🍇 Sauvignon Vert

Sauvignon vert is a white wine grape that the VIVC catalogue lists under the main name Friulano and considers Italian. Under that name it is best known in Friuli Venezia Giulia, where it gives dry white wines with a light bitter note. In Ukraine VIVC records 2,691 ha of the variety (2009).

VIVC lists 27 synonyms: Sauvignonasse, Sauvignon vert, Tocai friulano, Zeleni sauvignon and others. The parents are unknown. The name Tocai friulano implies no link with Tokaj: the main grapes of Tokaji wines are Furmint and Hárslevelű. And VIVC also gives "Sauvignon vert" among the synonyms of Muscadelle, so the name is ambiguous.

The technical file of the Collio appellation (recognised in 1968) describes Collio Friulano as straw yellow to deep golden, with a delicate, characteristic aroma and a dry, warm, full taste with a bitter note. Collio's vineyards lie on flysch soils of marl and sandstone.

In Italy the variety's area is shrinking: 7,259 ha in 1982 and 4,698 ha in 2000. It also grows in Argentina (1,002 ha, 1991) and Slovenia. Saint-Pierre Doré descends from it, as do new resistant varieties, among them Soreli.

Why it matters to you. On Italian labels look for the name Friulano; it is the same grape. Collio Friulano is a dry white with a light bitter note. A grape named on an EU wine means at least 85 % of that grape; white wines are served at 4–10 °C.