Ronchi di Cialla Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso 2011 750ml

ITALY : FRIULI : COLLI ORIENTALI DEL FRIULI - CIALLA

SUSTAINABLE : Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso

FULL-BODIED, BLACK CHERRY, GRAPHITE, WHITE PEPPER, DRIED HERBS, OAK

The Cialla Valley is Ronchi di Cialla's monopole — a single sub-zone within the Friuli Colli Orientali DOC that one family has owned and farmed since 1970. The valley runs northeast toward the Slovenian border, shielded by the Julian Pre-Alps, where Eocene marl and limestone sandstone soils give the wines a distinctive mineral tension. Olive trees grow here despite the latitude — an anomaly that first caught Dina and Paolo Rapuzzi's attention and drew them to the valley. Their sons Ivan and Pierpaolo, published entomologists, now run the estate with the same organic practices the family has always followed, now formalized with Biodiversity Friend certification.

The 2011 Refosco spent 18 months in 90% French oak and 10% Slavonian oak, then an additional 50 months aging in bottle before release — roughly six years from harvest to market. That protocol is the signature of this estate: the decision to hold wine rather than ship it compresses the grape's early austerity and builds the complexity that makes these bottles worth cellaring for 20 years or more. At 15 years old, the 2011 is entering its most accessible window. Expect rounded tannins, secondary earth and spice notes characteristic of old Cialla reds, and the white pepper that Ian D'Agata calls a fingerprint of this valley.

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