Iconic in Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Dry · Full-bodied · Firm tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Bold

The estate's flagship red, blending the three indigenous Friulian reds (Refosco, Schioppettino, Pignolo). Black plum, tobacco and graphite over a fine grainy tannin and a long finish.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

Joe Bastianich's flagship white blend (Chardonnay, Sauvignon, dry-vinified Picolit). The Picolit gives the unique wax-and-honey aromatic register. Vespa Bianco was the first wine Joe Bastianich and Lidia Bastianich released after acquiring the Cividale del Friuli estate.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

Nicola Manferrari's flagship Collio Bianco, three-variety field blend with extended lees ageing. Yellow apple and almond blossom over a wax-and-honey palate with the structural depth of grower Champagne.

Dry · Full-bodied · High tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Bold

Native Friulian Pignolo from cult Bressan at Farra d'Isonzo. Pignolo was nearly extinct before Carlo Bressan and Alessandro Dorigo led the revival; the variety is among Italy's most tannic native reds.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Damijan Podversic's extended-maceration Ribolla from the Gorizia hillside, two months on the skins with no added yeast. Dried apricot and honey over a tea-tannin finish.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Doro Princic's textbook traditional Collio Friulano. Yellow apple and bitter almond aromatics over a saline almond-skin finish, often cited as the most reference of reference Friulanos.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Princic's textbook Collio Pinot Bianco, yellow apple and almond blossom over a saline finish. Often cited as the most cellar-worthy serious Italian Pinot Bianco alongside Schiopetto.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Edi Keber's monovarietal-rejecting flagship: a single Collio Bianco blend of Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia Istriana as the only wine the estate releases (since 2010). Yellow apple and white pepper aromatics over a saline finish.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

Franco Toros's Collio Friulano from the Novali holdings above Cormons. Yellow apple and almond blossom over a long saline finish, cellar-worthy in the textbook traditional style.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

International-varietal field blend (Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Riesling Italico) vinified the same qvevri-and-Slavonian-botti way as Ribolla. Yellow stone fruit, dried orange peel and walnut over a tea-tannin amphora finish.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Josko Gravner's flagship Ribolla Gialla, fermented six to seven months on the skins in buried qvevri after his 2001 conversion to the Georgian amphora method. Dried apricot and orange peel aromatics over a tea-tannin palate and a saline pithy finish.

Dry · Full-bodied · Firm tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Bold

Indigenous Pignolo from Oslavia, fermented in qvevri and aged six years in Slavonian botti. Dried black cherry and leather over a graphite, firm-tannin core with the distinctive amphora signature.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Refreshing

Native Carso Vitovska from Edi Kante at Duino-Aurisina. Kante's underground three-floor cellar cut into the Carso karst is among Italian winemaking's most distinctive buildings.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Bensa family's extended-maceration Ribolla, one of the four founding Oslavia orange-wine cellars alongside Gravner, Radikon and Damijan Podversic. Dried apricot, orange peel and almond over a tea-tannin finish.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Savoury

Oak-aged Pinot Grigio from Lis Neris. Gris is the cellar's top Pinot Grigio with partial new-oak elevage, set against the broader Lis Neris Pinot Grigio.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Livio Felluga's flagship DOCG Picolit, the indigenous Friulian sweet-wine grape with naturally low yields and tiny berries. Dried apricot and honey over a saline-edged finish that keeps the wine from cloying.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

The Livio Felluga flagship Friulian white from the Rosazzo amphitheatre, a three-variety blend (Friulano, Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon) with partial barrique ageing. First vintage 1981; Italy's reference age-worthy white wine and the flagship of the broader Friulian white-wine movement.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Single-vineyard Friulano from the Buri plot at Buttrio. Enzo Pontoni's cult Miani is the Colli Orientali's most sought-after producer with tiny yields and decade-plus waiting lists.

Dry · Full-bodied · Firm tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Single-vineyard Merlot from the Calvari plot at Buttrio. Miani's flagship red, considered by critics one of Italy's reference Merlots for its structure and ageworthiness.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Single-vineyard Friulano from the Filip plot at Buttrio. The cellar's second top Friulano alongside Buri, with the same hand-farmed Pontoni approach.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Single-vineyard Sauvignon from the Saurint plot at Buttrio. Miani's Sauvignon is the cellar's most overtly aromatic single-vineyard wine but built on the same low-yield concentration spine.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

Stanko Radikon's pioneering extended-maceration Ribolla, with three to four months on the skins. The wine that put Oslavia on the global orange-wine map alongside Gravner; sold in the distinctive 500 ml bottle Stanko adopted in 2002.

Sweet · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Elegant

Rocca Bernarda's flagship DOCG Picolit from the Villa Rocca Bernarda estate at Premariacco. The villa was the historical seat of Picolit production under the Counts of Trento in the 19th century.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Firm tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Savoury

The Rapuzzi family's flagship Schioppettino di Cialla. The Rapuzzi rescued Schioppettino from near-extinction in the 1970s, planting the first new Schioppettino vineyards at Cialla (Prepotto) since the variety nearly died out. Their work led to the Schioppettino di Prepotto sub-denomination.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

The estate's prestige Collio Bianco from the Col Disore cru. Multi-variety field blend with partial oak ageing, the Russiz Superiore flagship since 1997.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Refreshing · Elegant

The classical Collio Friulano vinified in stainless steel since the late 1960s. Yellow apple and bitter almond aromatics over a saline almond-skin finish, the textbook reference for modern Friulano.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Contemplative

Schiopetto's prestige Friulano named in tribute to founder Mario Schiopetto, whose late-1960s temperature-controlled white-wine work in Capriva del Friuli set the technical baseline for modern Italian dry whites.

Dry · Medium-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Refreshing

The estate's flagship single-vineyard Sauvignon from the Ronco delle Mele cru in Dolegna del Collio. Elderflower and lime zest aromatics over a saline finish, the textbook benchmark for serious Collio Sauvignon.

Dry · Full-bodied · Low tannin · High acidity · Elegant · Savoury

Sauvignon from the Vieris parcel at Mariano del Friuli. Gianfranco Gallo's Vie di Romans defined the modern Isonzo white style with extended lees ageing.

Dry · Full-bodied · Firm tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Funky

Single-parcel long-skin-contact Vitovska from Vodopivec. Solo is the cellar's top cuvée from a single Carso parcel.

Dry · Full-bodied · Medium tannin · High acidity · Contemplative · Funky

Long-skin-contact Vitovska from Paolo Vodopivec on the Carso. The cellar buried its first qvevri amphorae in 2005 and built around them an orange-wine line that critics rate alongside Gravner and Radikon.