Tasting Report: Wines of Fantinel (Friuli, Italia)
Friuli is a small region (less than the size of Connecticut) located in Northeast Italy bordered by the Alps (separate from Austria), Slovenia to the east and the Veneto to the West. The climate and soil permit the production of very good white wines, especially Pinot Grigio and Fruiliano (Tocai Fruliano). The most well known DOC in Fruili is Collio.
Fantinel is a medium sized producer in Friuli. These wines were tasted non-blind with Flavio Andreatta of Fantinel. Overall, prior to our tasting I had tased previous vintages of the Prosecco and Pinot Girigo and find Fantinel to be a great value driven producer with excellent quality for the price (QPR). My tasting with Flavio reiterated my position, and I will add that these wines are excellent “food” wines all characterized by fresh, natural acidity and underlying minerality. My two top picks from this list are the Prosecco, which is very flavorful and will appeal to many people, and the Pinot Grigio, which is designed to go great with a variety of foods.
N.V. Fantinel Prosecco: Very aromatic with Asian pear, citrus, and fresh flowers with a palate that is crisp and focused, good acidity, soft finish though. My rating: 88 pts, GV
2006 Fantinel Ribolla Gialla: Nose of banana peel, orange rind, a touch of cotton candy aroma with pinapple and tropical fruit accented with a backbone of minearlity and a fresh finish. My rating: 88 pts, GV
2007 Fantinel Pinot Grigio: Interesting copper hue to the wine. Good citrus component with a touch of hay on the nose. The wine begins soft on the front of the palate but a razor sharp acidity shows up in the mid and through the minerally, pear/slight tropical fruit finish. My rating: 90 pts, VGV
2007 Fantinel Friulano: A medium-light style Friulano characterized by sharp acidity, complex tropical fruit, and just a touch of minerality. Nice wine. My rating: 87 pts
2007 Fantinel Refosco: This refosco is an interesting wine- light, dusty red in color and very earthy. There is a subtle amount of cherry and raspberry, soft tannins and very balanced acidity. This would make for a nice backyard BBQ wine with grilled meats. My rating: 86 pts, GV
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Hey Mike! Great summary. Thanks! Is any part of this live reporting from the Gordon Conference? If not are you going to be doing some reporting? I don’t know how they decide on the location of those things. You get to go to Italy and I got to go to New Hampshire for one … go figure. Have fun and good luck.
Jonny T, good to see you here! I leave for Italy this Thursday and will be giving updates on both my twitter page (which is on the right down the page a bit here) and when I have time on the site here. The first few days are going to be focused on science, so I doubt I’ll have much time to drink any wine or report back…look for live updates to begin May 17!
I’m assuming you went to New Hampshire when you were here in Baltimore? If so, then I’d be more than happy to go to a GRC in NH!!
No doubt. I love the White Mountains in NH. I get up there a few times every year. Spent last Thanksgiving camping up there, cooking a Thanksgiving feast on an open fire. That said, I would be pretty psyched to go to Italy.
If you ever want to trade in the mountains of Shenandoah for the Whites for a weekend, let me know.
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