Ep. 1850 Schioppettino, Tocai Friulano by Emilia Marinig | Italian Grape Geek

The Italian wine podcast is the community driven platform for Italian winegeeks around the world. Support the show by donating at italian wine podcast dot com. Donate five or more Euros, and we'll send you a copy of our latest book, my Italian Great Geek journal. Absolutely free. To get your free copy of my Italian GreatGeek journal, click support us at italian wine podcast dot com, or wherever you get your pods. Welcome to the Italian GreatGeek Podcast. Join us as we explore personal stories of travel and tasting with Italy's must know grape varietals. Chart your own course with my Italian GreatGeek Journal. Your personal tasting companion to accompany the series. Available now on Amazon with thanks to Colangelo and partners for their generous support with this project. Hello, everybody. My name is Amelia, and I'm a a Vineicelli International Ambassador and, was recently actually moved back to Italy. I'm living in Canti Classic now, and I'm very lucky working for Cortabella as the Red of Marketing. My passion for wine stems from, few years back. I have to say, I come from Fluidina, originally from, the north west of Italy, and it's a pretty rural area of Italy. So grapes were growing all around me. So it felt quite naturally that, through the years and through my youth, I actually developed an interest and a passion for great growing and winemaking. If I was lucky enough with over twenty years of international experience in the wine business, before finding my new home here in Tuscany. The first grape I'm gonna talk about is Cupertino, also known as Rivolinera and Pokolsa in a Soviet dialect, and it's a grape that I all quite close to my art. Because it comes originally from my hometown, close to Chivira and Frioli from the Colliore in Thali. So we are talking about the Eastern border of Italy, border, as I said, with Zylvania. It's also one of those grades that's really fascinates me because of their history and how they almost escaped extinction. Just to give you an indication in Cupertina was probably being quite popular in the past around the reporter, Chandler, and Alvana, which is a satellite, pretty much all the river, Utah, which is the national border between Italy andsylvania, but went extinct after the second world war due to a combination effect. There's something that happened to a lot of indigenous varieties in Italy, as you probably know by now by reading the book and listening to Italian wine podcast. So almost as a brink of extinction, It was actually saved by a family, the Ratici family of the estate named, Ranti Dicella, which at the end of the nineteen seventies started, first of all, to replent the vineyards, but also start fighting along with the local administration to get the wine and the grape recognized in the national registry of grapes of Italy. I think it's a similar story again that can be related to other groups too. As I said, it's the one in a grape that I really like because it brings me back to my family, brings me back to the place I was born, And I think it explains very much how the ability, how the skills, the determination and the dedication of a single producer can actually, make history. I said that a family did everything they could to actually save this grape. Another funny thing that always makes me smile, ambassador Petino, it's the name. You know, if you think of it, in Italian means bend, but also means like pop like Cupertino. It relates mainly with the slovenian name, which is Poklitza, Poklitza, as well. So this really strange sound that, you know, miss has more pop, but also suggest how crunchy the grape skin is. You know, if you put it in your mouth and you squeeze it, You feel it like a little crack going on in your mouth. It's believed to be a mutation as well of the other local white champions, which is, even though recent DNA testing have proved this, but I think in the minds of the local there's still, you know, a correlation between Scupetino and Ribolajala. So, of course, Scupetino and, the history of Scupetino is very much linked to that of the wrong digital state. Which I think still makes one of the most beautiful expressions of this grape. But you can find more and more producers in Frioli that are now making really great wines out of this grape to name a few Vigna Petruca were also from the Perpacto area, as well as Antico Broillo, where the winemaker is actually quite a young guy, very dynamic, makes it also mean if you look for it. And they work with one hundred percent variety wines. Outside of its birthplace of Propoto, you can find Cupertino wines in other docs of Lulio, and other populations of Lulio, and I said, Julia, I'm thinking of another small, but very dynamic producer, which is a wrong cosavero, especially for people that, appreciates National wines. Marco Sara is from a different area, though. It's not from Propopo, but I believe from Saboniano del Torres, still call your intabidale Frioli. And Bresanne, who's actually in his own or so. Not exactly from Colorado, but still makes a really spot on, Scrapetino wine. If I had to pair Scupetino with any dish, I would go obviously very traditional freemulano pairing because that's, again, to expect memories of my childhood and brings me back to my birthplace. I remember, for example, one really great epic, lunch that I had there on Kedichala pairing Scipatino with rabbit stew and polite, of course, on the side. There are some local sausages, which are pretty acidic that I think goes and in with the wine. In general, lighter styles of, scopertino can go with raw, stir and grilled meat, wild meat, even grilled fish. If I had, like, a more let's say structured version of Cupertino, I would go with something smoking. I think that the combination will work pretty well, and of course, bettering notes. One thing I haven't mentioned about Cupertino is one of his typical notes is Delta Lonez. So the Petory notes of Delta Lonez. And I think I always like to find the consistency with, what I found in my dish. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel. Mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local food, and taking in the scenery. Now back to the show. Talking about another, really famous. That's not famous. I'm lying. I'm lying to myself. It's not famous for you, Ronald. I'm happy to do that again. Hello, everyone. I'm back. And I'm here to talk about one of my favorite white grapes. Which of course comes from Freoliva, let's say, Julia, which is my region. I'm always trying to be a great advocate for, Friolano wines. Obviously, the tip is in the name. Friolano means coming from Fioli, that beautiful corner of, Western Italy squeeze the between the mountains between the dolomites and the Adriatic Sea bordering on the eastern side, Pennsylvania. So there are a lot of influence, a Slavic influence, and, German influences in the in the region. But Frulano is of course something that talks very much about the farming traditions and history of my region. About its region, there are mixed ideas about that. The mainstream would think that the great might have originated in the region of Veneto, which is next door to Frulie, and spread into my region probably around the sixteen hundreds. But again, other scholars actually would like to tie the Frulanau to the Southwest France where a similar grape is known as sovignonas or sovignon Ver. And again, there's still a lot of debate going on about the original of the goose grape. At least for me, the most important thing is that it's really symbolized the growth of Viticulture in Freoli. Frulano became the flagship grape of the region. And, for many years, it was actually known as tokai Frulano. And here is actually when the troubles begin, or actually, we need to jump forward to very recent years because obviously the name Tokai caused a lot of, a lot of buzz, you know, when Anguri was about to join, the European Union in general because of the Tokyo region. So the powers to be, we're very concerned about TOCI Frulano creating confusion or maybe being misleading not only in terms of the the characteristics of the grapes and the wine, but also, you know, is it okay? Is it coming from Hungary then? Is it sweet wine? So at the end of the day, quite a bitter battle unfolded, within the rooms of the European Commission, or I think it was at the European Commission level. And finally, Frioli, as a region, was actually obliged to drop the name to Kai. I remember I was still a student when this happened because we were talking about the 1990s, and that all, this debate started. And, while we were still waiting for the final decision of the commission, a lot of producers start actually thinking, okay, If we lose, what is it gonna happen, how are we gonna call our main grape? Remember that Freelano was back then, probably the flagship grape of the region. So I remember very, very, very clearly that, there was a short of a survey we made on newspapers on Redeart shows someone so forth to actually pick the name. And at the end, it was decided that because the grape was so important for the multicultural traditions of the region, It was decided that the name should have been Freulamo, which obviously means coming from friuli. Frulana is also a fascinating grape variety because it's quite a vigorous grape variety. And in order to be able to produce really great quality wise, you need to be able to lower the yield and work very much on the canopy management of things. Also, to avoid the resurgence of various forms of, road and mildew. Also, remember that friuli is characterized, but quite, well, used to, because thanks to climate change, but it used to be characterized by quite humid conditions, especially during the development of the virus. So to be able to really work at the Freivalano grape, well, you need to start with a successful county management. My favorite producers, they are really, a really long list because you can imagine every time I go back to Frioli, I always start my adventure. I always start my trapper with a nice glass of crispy, slightly bitter at the end. Frulano. I'm very particular. I really know the flavors that I'm looking for when I'm ordering a Frulano. Of course, if I can't find anything from Miami and I have someone to sponsor it, I would go for it. Great producer, of course. The preview comes to my mind. If I find it on the list, I always, root for them. Spekonia, Christian Spekania from Morocco Bernarda, again, a young producer who's really making history nowadays in Frioli. We've been selected as one as, the young, an upcoming wine producers of Italy, I'm quite partial also to Dora Princhy, especially the old bottling of Dora Princhy, I think that really set the mark for great, Freranos. Vigna, again, quite a natural in their approach, by natural and low intervention in their approach to one making, by game wines that, show extreme purity of the grape, very clean, very long, very precise winemaking as well. Gigante, if you like some, frouilano that brings a little bit more weight, the glass. I can't go wrong forever because, seriously, frouilano, it's, one of the grapes, as I said, that, closer to my art. One pairing, I always like to think of original pairing. I think that comes pretty easy in this case. If I go back to friuli, of course, a glass of murano comes with a nice because the two things just married beautifully. Monteazo cheese, which is one of the local cheese of friuli. If you really like cheese, go for freeco, one of the local best dishes is basically fried cheese with potatoes with some sort of variations, some chefs, some hooks, like to add, you know, pancetta to Frico, or other, let's say, animal based proteins, but for me, Frico, it's I'm a purist, so it has to be potato and cheese. And, again, mix a great, pairing for fluano. In the springtime, one of the very typical, pairing would be with seasonal asparagus and eggs. Other eggs may be for Tata or slightly cooked, like, a la cockle. If you like fish, of course, for you long again, with this sort of long, clean finish, I think makes us perfect pairing for white fish dishes. Roasted agree on the picture call. But again, I think if I think of Frioli, of course, Friolano is the first thing that pops into my mind. Listen to the Italian wine podcast wherever you get your podcasts. We're on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, EmailIFM, and more. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show. 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