📜 Friuli

Friuli is a DOC appellation covering the vineyards of four provinces of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region in north-east Italy: Pordenone, Gorizia, Trieste and Udine. The official name has four versions: Friuli, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and in Slovenian Furlanija and Furlanija Julijska krajina. The EU registered the appellation on 13 November 2020.

Under the rules, white, red and sparkling wine is released under this name, as well as varietal wines: Chardonnay, Friulano, Malvasia istriana, Pinot gris, Sauvignon, Verduzzo friulano, Merlot, Cabernet, Pinot noir, Refosco dal peduncolo rosso and others. If a grape name is on the label, at least 85% of the wine is that grape. Sparkling wine from Ribolla gialla also has to contain no less than 85% of that grape.

The region covers 7,856 km²: 42.5% mountains, 19.3% hills, 38.2% plains and coast. The average summer temperature is 21.5–22.5 °C, and in winter about 4 °C. The foothills of the Julian Alps shelter the vineyards from cold northern winds, and in the east the bora blows. Under the appellation rules, Friuli wines can live for more than ten years.

Winegrowing here is very old. The disciplinare mentions that its beginnings go back to about 700 BC, and Roman Aquileia shipped local wine to north-eastern Europe for several centuries.

Why it matters to you. A bottle of Friuli will not carry the words superiore, extra or vecchio: the rules forbid them. Crown caps, the metal caps used on beer, are banned for these wines, and sparkling wines cannot be closed with plastic stoppers. White wines are served at 4–10 °C, reds at 15–18 °C.