Scarbolo Friuli Grave Bianco 'Areore' 2023

“Areore”—meaning, roughly, “it was about time” in dialect—is Lara and Mattia’s nod to the old Friulian practice of co-fermentation which had lost ground in the recent decades of Grave’s more commercially focused production. Comprising 58% Sauvignon Blanc, 23% Tocai Friulano, and 19% Chardonnay from 2.7 hectares worth of 20-year-old vines in the vineyards Stradele and Gjats, the 2023 “Areore” underwent a single night of cold maceration before fermenting in stainless steel via pied de cuve, aging for a full year in two-to-eight-year-old tonneaux before being bottled without filtration. This voluptuous yet well-balanced wine leads with crunchy orchard fruits, with Sauvignon’s usually boisterous herbal citrus notes lurking politely in the background, and a ravishingly layered texture kept in check by an attractive touch of phenolic grip. The 2023 partially completed malolactic fermentation and ended up at a moderate 13.62% natural alcohol.