Vie Di Romans Friuli Chardonnay

Vie di Romans is based in the heart of Isonzo, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, where winemaker Gianfranco Gallo’s 65 hectares of vineyard produce about 250,000 bottles a year. Here, the well-drained soil is stony, glacial and rich in minerals, soaking up rainfall like a sponge. An easterly wind ensures cool night temperatures to temper the hot summer days, with a large diurnal range slowing ripening and allowing the grapes to accumulate flavour. This, along with the low yields that Gallo achieves, alongside his proclivity for picking grapes once fully mature, results in single-vineyard wines of great intensity and richness. As a result, Gallo releases the Vie di Romans wines a year later than the local norm.

This elegant Chardonnay has a spicy character due to Gianfranco’s judicious use of oak. All the Vie di Romans wines have the hallmark of excellent individuality, which sets Gianfranco Gallo apart from the crowd.

Chardonnay,

The grapes for the Vie di Romans Chardonnay are sourced from the estate’s 10.75-hectare vineyard in the commune of Mariano del Friuli, located at an altitude of 31 metres above sea level. Soils here are medium to deep, reddish-hued clay with a gravel-pebbly texture. The vines are an average of 24 years of age, planted at a density of 6,000-7,800 vines per hectare, and are trained using the Guyot method and spur pruning.

After de-stemming and crushing, the grapes underwent a pre-fermentation cold maceration at 8ºC for 20 hours. Fermentation took place in stainless-steel tanks over a period of 29/30 days at temperatures of 16ºC to 19ºC with selected yeasts. The wine did not undergo malolactic fermentation and spent 9 months on its lees in French oak barriques prior to clarification and bottling. The wine then aged for a further 8 months in bottle before release.

Light golden in colour with a subtle, elegant nose of summer flowers, acacia blossom and hints of honeysuckle. The wine is lightly spiced, with the judicious oak ageing bringing notes of vanilla and cinnamon. It shows lovely buttery, honeyed and floral characters, all lifted on the finish by a lively freshness that is characteristic of this area of Italy.

A wine of this caliber deserves only the finest of foods. Lobster in garlic butter, fish in buerre blanc.

Max - Granted, this isn’t an everyday wine, though I wish it was. This chardonnay from the commune of Mariano del Friuli is one to sipped and celebrated or saved for aging. It shows the vibrant acidity that this region is famed for as well as incredibly complex acacia and honeysuckle notes and deep, buttery characters from oak aging. It’s everything you’d want from a top quality white Burgundy, but is instead from a small, lesser known area in the north eastern reaches of Italy.