Sweet Line

Picolit

One of Friuli's most significant varieties, drunk by Kings, Popes and aristocrats all over Europe during the last three centuries. It suffers from an illness, for which luckily no cure has been found yet, which makes the plant lose more than half of its berries before they are fully ripe. The plant therefore gives all its energies to a very small amount of berries, thus naturally obtaining wines of great structure and sweet richness.

It is a wine which shows off shoulders and strength typical of regions far sunnier than ours and at the same time the amazing finesse and elegance of colder regions.

Sadly, Friulian winemakers had in the past forty years transformed it into a mass market product, compromising its quality and image. When we decided to restore Picolit to its former glory, twenty years ago, the reputation of this wine was practically non-existent. We recovered ancient growing and vinification techniques: selection of the bunches during the harvest, natural raisining on rush mats for two months, crushing in a traditional hand press, barrel fermentation and frequent batonnage.

We immediately found out that the yield in litres per hectare was derisory: it took the fruit from many vines to make one liter of the finished wine...

Since that time up to now very little has changed, the wine is produced always in the same way. We surely could abandon it in favour of more profitable varieties, but we would lose an incredible wine and a piece of history of our land.

Try this wine with blue cheese, foie gras or by itself, as a meditation wine.

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Verduzzo

Centuries ago, when most of the land was farmed by "mezzadri", or tenants, the aristocracy used to drink Picolit. The tenants themselves, however, drank Verduzzo.

Of course, Verduzzo does not have the finesse of the world's greatest sweet wines. But we at Dorigo respect its considerable dignity. The grapes raisin on the vine for six weeks before they are soft-crushed, and then fermented in French oak barriques. The wine ages in the same barriques for one year.

Try Verduzzo with cheese, especially blue or very mature cheeses, or even with almond or hazelnut biscuits!

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