Colli Orientali

Some wines survived by accident. In the 1970s, Schioppettino was not disappearing only because of powdery mildew or phylloxera: it was disappearing because it was not on the list. No law forbade it outright — it simply did not appear among the authorised grape varieties, and what is not provided for cannot be planted. It stayed alive in the rows of those who refused to pull it up, waiting for the paperwork to catch up. It took thirty years.

THE TERRITORY

The Colli Orientali are the same wave of hills as the Collio, seen from the other side. They run for more than two thousand hectares through the province of Udine, from Tarcento and Nimis in the north down to Corno di Rosazzo in the south, by way of Cividale and Prepotto: an arc that follows the Slovenian border, then bends west towards the plain.

Underfoot lies the ponca — that is the Friulian name — the alternation of marl and sandstone that surfaces everywhere here. It is Paleogene seabed, lifted and folded: sixty million years ago this land lay under water, and submarine landslides stacked up layers of calcareous mud and sand that later hardened. Ponca crumbles in the rain and sets hard in the sun; it holds little, forcing the vine to reach deep. That is why these wines have more tension than flesh.

THE WINES

If the Collio is a land of white wines, our selection here tells the opposite story: two wines out of three are red. It is not a stylistic choice — it is what these hills do best.

The leading grape is Schioppettino, once known as Ribolla Nera, recorded in a document of 1282 as a wedding wine in Cividale. The name comes from the Friulian scopp, a crack or a pop: perhaps the snap of the berries between the teeth, perhaps the corks that flew when its acidity restarted fermentation in the bottle. It gives wines of black pepper and dark fruit, taut, never heavy, which age better than their lightness suggests. Since 2008 it has had a subzone of its own, Schioppettino di Prepotto — recognition for a grape that had nearly vanished through a bureaucratic oversight.

Alongside it grow Refosco dal peduncolo rosso, dark and rough by nature, and the long-adopted Bordeaux varieties: Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which here shed weight and gain nerve.

Among the whites the family names remain — Friulano, Pinot Grigio, Ribolla Gialla, Sauvignon — carrying the dry salinity that ponca leaves to those who farm it.

GASTRONOMY

The gastronomic excellences selected by #cerchiorosso for an even more immersive experience in the territory. Typical and artisanal products, organic and Slow Food, to accompany your wines!

WHERE TO TASTE THE TERRITORY

Alimentari Tomadin

Born in the 1980s, when Marisa Tomadin took over the grocery shop of the Cormons Agricultural Cooperative, Alimentari Tomadin has been promoting the typical products of Collio and regional and national gastronomic excellence with passion and enthusiasm for more than thirty years.

Ristorante Rò

Our table is set to be shared with others, and the chef is the translator who accompanies guests through the meaning of the food that covers it. We start from what our land offers to arrive at an experience that reflects our territory.