It’s no wonder the Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey and his business partner, Chef Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, chose the remote Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia as the lodestar for their celebrated Boulder, CO, restaurant, Frasca Food & Wine. Aside from the legendary Lidia Bastianich, who hails from the region, no one paid much attention to Friuli, but obscurity wasn’t the point—what the Frasca founders discovered is a food and wine scene that is arguably the most dynamic in all of Italy.
The food, with its Austrian, Slavic, and French touches on an “Italian” base, reflects its frontier positioning, drawing influences from both the Alps and the Adriatic; and when it comes to wine, Friuli does it all. It is best known for the most serious white wines in Italy—wines that share commonalities with the best of Austria and Alsace—but there are also world-class late-harvest sweet wines and a much broader and more impressive red-wine repertoire than most of us realize. The reds, like the whites, brilliantly combine power and elegance—as today’s well-knit red from Meroi demonstrates. “Nèstri” bears more than a passing resemblance to top Right Bank Bordeaux, but there’s enough of the indigenous Refosco grape in the blend to take you someplace completely (and enthrallingly) new. It is excellent wine by any empirical measure but also unplaceable—which is what we loved about it—and it’s a steal to boot. I’m certain you will love it, too.
Perhaps the most important thing to remember about Friuli is that, for all its associations with the Alps—which indeed separate it from Austria to the north—its most acclaimed wine regions are about the same distance from the Adriatic Sea as they are from the mountains. Compared to, say, Puglia, it’s a “cool climate” region, but it’s more about dramatic diurnal temperature swings than some baseline latitudinal coolness. In short, it is plenty warm here for powerful red wines. The Meroi winery and vineyards are situated in and around Buttrio, within the Colli Orientali del Friuli (“eastern hills of Friuli”) DOC, not far from the border with Slovenia. The local name for the limestone-rich marl soils of the area is ponca, a rocky mixture that lends mineral backbone and intensity to whites and reds alike.
Originally founded in 1920, the Meroi estate is today run by Paolo Meroi and his son, Damiano, with some valuable consultancy provided by Paolo’s longtime friend Enzo Pontoni, whose tiny Miani winery is one of the cultiest garagiste properties in all of Italy. Anyone who’s tried the immensely concentrated—if incredibly rare and expensive—reds of Miani knows just how much depth and concentration can be achieved in this terroir, and Meroi’s range, both white and range, reflects a similar sensibility: theirs are polished, impeccably crafted wines from extremely low-yield vineyard sources, though in Meroi’s case the cost of entry is much less prohibitive.
And while the indigenous red grapes of Friuli-Venezia Giulia have been coming on strong recently—especially the dark-fruited Refosco, which comprises 25% of the “Nèstri” blend—the so-called “Bordeaux” varieties, and Merlot in particular, have been a critical part of the Friulian wine landscape since Napoleon ruled over much of Northeast Italy in the early 1800s. One could argue, in fact, that Merlot—which accounts for the other 75% of “Nèstri”—is just as indigenous to the area as Refosco. How far back do we need to go to claim indigenousness, anyway?
Aged 18 months in used French oak
barriques, the 2015 Nèstri does not bowl you over with extract but is instead quite fine-tuned and supple. It has a very well-knit structure, with supple tannins and a well-modulated infusion of brawn from the darker-toned Refosco. In the glass, it’s a deep, reflective ruby moving to magenta/pink at the rim, with aromas of black plum, bing cherry, red and black currant, dewy roses and violets, freshly ground espresso, tobacco, and a hint of tar. Medium-plus in body, with moderate alcohol and perfect freshness, it is quite approachable after about 30 minutes in a decanter, although I can see it aging nicely over the next 5-7 years. Certain reds announce their age-worthiness not with brute tannic force but with freshness and, above all, balance. This is one of the latter: Serve it at 60-65 degrees in Bordeaux stems and maybe serve it ‘blind’ to your wine-geek friends. Is it Pomerol? St-Émilion? And what is that faint Syrah-like note that keeps popping up? Whatever your guess, there’s no denying that it is really good. Pair it with a stuffed pork tenderloin as in the attached recipe, and most of all, don’t be surprised. Friuli really can do it all!
— David Lynch
