Wine

Friuli Wine Tour Part 5: Friuli Aquileia

I am a member of the Dutch association of wine connoisseurs (Verenigde Vinologen Nederland). As a member of the travel committee of the VVN, I organize wine trips to Italy together with Fred Nijhuis. This is the fifth and final day of our tour of Friuli. In the first four days we’ve visited Friuli Grave, Collio, Brda, and Friuli Colli Orientali.

A map depicting the wine regions of Friuli, Italy, highlighting various DOCs and their respective locations.

Our final visit in Friuli before going home was the Consorzio Tutela Vini Doc Friuli Aquileia. Friuli Aquileia DOC (marked as number 10 on the map) is a small DOC with only 16 wineries.

Two presenters discussing wine in a tasting room with a map and banner for DOC Friuli Aquileia in the background, while participants listen attentively.

We were received at the wine bar of the Ca’ Bolani winery by the President of the Consortium and Estate Manager of Ca’ Bolani, Roberto Marcolini, and the Vice President, Francesco Tarlao. They explained to us that Aquileia is mostly flat and has a high diversity of soil, with iron, pebbles, clay, and sand. The focus is on Pinot Bianco for whites and Refosco for reds. Refosco literally means “king (re) of the dark (fosco)”. Due to the proximity of the Adriatic Sea, the whites have a saline character.

A selection of white wines from various wineries in Friuli Aquileia DOC displayed on a wooden table, with a vineyard landscape in the background.

We tasted a very nice overview of wines from Friuli Aquileia DOC, starting with white. Although they had mentioned a focus on Pinot Bianco, our tasting focused more on Friulano:

  • Foffani Friuli Aquileia Pinot Grigio DOC 2023: salty, fresh.
  • Ca’ Bolani Friuli Aquileia Pinot Bianco DOC 2024: pear, mellow, fresh.
  • Puntini Friuli Aquileia Friulano DOC 2024: body, almond finish, balance.
  • Tarlao Friuli Aquileia Friulano DOC Albero del Noce 2024 (10 hours cold skin contact): passion fruit, mineral, fresh, balance. Our favorite wine, made by the vice president of the consortium.
  • La Corta Friuli Aquileia Friulano DOC 2023: structure, salty.
  • Donda Friuli Aquileia Friulano DOC 2023 (aged on the lees): tropical fruit, creamy, salty.
  • Ballamiunut Friuli Aquileia Friulano DOC 2023 (aged on the lees): fresh, salty.
  • Ca’ Bolani Friuli Aquileia Bianco DOC Tamanis 2022 (50% Friulano and 30% Pinot Bianco aged in large oak for 1 year, 13% Malvasia Istriana, 7% Sauvignon Blanc): tropical fruit, fresh, almond finish.
  • Mulino delle Tolle Friuli Aquileia Malvasia DOC 2023 (20% new oak, cold skin contact): aromatic, almond finish.
  • Terre di Palazzatto Friuli Aquileia Sauvignon Blanc DOC 2023: tomato leaf, crisp.
  • Valpanera Friuli Aquileia Traminer Aromatico DOC 2024: fresh, floral, aromatic (but not as aromatic as a Traminer from Alto Adige).
A selection of wine bottles displayed on a wooden table, featuring various labels and types, including Pinot Bianco and Refosco from the Friuli Aquileia region.

We continued with reds:

  • Cantine Rigonat Friuli Aquileia Merlot DOC 2023 (stainless steel): light and fresh.
  • Mulino delle Tolle Friuli Aquileia Refosco DOC 2022: dark fruit, acidity, sticky tannin.
  • Ballaminut Friuli Aquileia Refosco DOC 2022 (20% of the grapes dried before vinification): raisins, fresh, slightly astringent.
  • Brojli Friuli Aquileia Refosco Riserva DOC 2021 (1 year in oak, clay soil): oak, astringent.
  • La Rosta Friuli Aquileia Refosco DOC 2020: strawberry and rhubarb jam, fresh, soft tannins.
  • Ca’ Bolani Friuli Aquileia Rosso DOC 2020 (50% Refosco, 35% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc, 18 months in small and large oak): fresh, tannin.
A group of people seated at a long table, raising glasses in a toast during a lunch gathering, surrounded by plates of food and wine bottles.

For our final meal we had lunch at Ristorante Corallo in the town of Aquileia.

Close-up of a wine bottle labeled 'Albero del Noce' from the Tarlao winery, placed on a table setting with a glass and water bottles in the background.

We were very happy to see our favorite wine of that morning’s tasting on the wine list, and so had that with our lunch.

A plate of seafood antipasti featuring mantis shrimp, squid salad, fish pâté, poached white fish, and a scallop topped with breadcrumbs, accompanied by a lemon wedge and radicchio.

Many Italian restaurants specializing in seafood have “house antipasti” that is so abundant that it is a meal by itself. This was also the casa at Ristorante Corallo, where the antipasti included mantis shrimp, scallop and mussel gratin, fish “in saor”, squid salad, fish paté, and poached white fish. With some bread and salad on the side, we had a wonderful lunch.

A glass dish of tiramisù topped with cocoa powder, served on a white plate with a napkin.

We finished with tiramisù. If you are in the area I can certainly recommend Ristorante Corallo. It was delicious and the service was very professional. They knew we had a plane to catch and so the antipasti (that I had pre-ordered by e-mailing with Alex, the owner) were on the table within minutes of our arrival.

A smiling man stands beside a car with its trunk open, showcasing numerous boxes of wine being transported after a wine tour.

One member of our group had driven all the way from the Netherlands to Friuli, and he returned with his car loaded up with the wine had purchased at the various wineries we had visited.

4 thoughts on “Friuli Wine Tour Part 5: Friuli Aquileia”

  1. I am looking at the ‘house antipasti’ on your post and wishing it was in front of me 🙂 ! Delightful! And am having a laugh at you people’s ‘sense and sensibility’ to have one of you come with a car to take the bought wine home to the Netherlands – quite a hike! Poor car – that was a heavy load. 🙂 !!! Thank you for taking us along for the journey . . . loved your maps from this post . . . now I have the areas clear in my mind . . .

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    1. We didn’t have time to visit anything in Aquileia and I was with a group (as the group leader even) so I couldn’t go off on my own. I did see the very famous mosaici in Ravenna though, and I even got Kees to enter into a church for that! 😉

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      1. Oh, you visited Friuli to taste wines, and it takes time and kilometres. Happy to read about the mosaic in Ravenna, I was there last year, they worth the visit, even in a church 😉 (this is for Kees)

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