Last October, I visited the Friulian wine region of Collio to attend what the Italian’s call an anteprima, where new wines and — in this case, new ideas — are debuted.
Collio Evolution was comprised of two days of walk-around tastings at the Enoteca Cormons, as well as tasting seminars focused on the one grape that most producers work with: Tocai Friulano, which per the EU must labeled as “Friulano” to avoid confusion with a certain wine in Hungary (its a sore subject in these parts).
Also known as Sauvignonasse, this grape is believed to have originated in neighboring Veneto, and while it moved to France and Chile and other divergent points on the globe, its true home is here.
“We feel it is the identity of our region,” said Luca Raccaro, the Collio DOC’s current president and a member of the family who produces some of the most structured Friulano around. “It made sense to start this new annual event with a focus on Friulano’s ability to age.”
Wait! Wait! Wait! Before you move on to the next web page, hear me out. Yes, aging white wines feels about as out-of-fashion as anything right now. But as I noted a few years ago in my First-Taste Guide to Friulano, we are not talking decades here. We are talking about a wine that moves into new dimensions after just two years, and keeps shape-shifting and maintaining a heartbeat until the 10-year mark.
- If you have the means to store wines at home, that means a trio of Friulano enjoyed one bottle every other year for the next five years is a manageable and exciting prospect.
- If you maintain a wine program, this means a white wine that won’t go bad after it’s been open for a couple of nights. By-the-glass selections anyone?
- And if you are an everyday wine consumer who buys one wine at a time, opening it the day you buy it, this means you can enjoy one glass tonight, another tomorrow, and two more later in the week. Suddenly 750mL of wine for just yourself isn’t a problem.
So if focusing on the age-worthiness of white wine seems like a geek’s exercise, think again. Collio’s Friulano is a durable, complex and compelling white wine that is as relevant as any in Italy. Here are seven new releases that stood out to me, as well as some notes on older vintages that I tasted.
Most Mosts of Any Friulano
2021 Damijan Podversic “Nekaj” Collio Friulano
There are several reasons why I select this wine as No. 1 in my Top 12 Wines of 2025 article. In it, I referred to it as a “category crusher” because of its defiance of the white vs orange wine spectrum. But here, I simply want to underscore the amount of “mosts” it inspired me to write down as I gathered my notes on the flight home: the 2021 was the most aromatic and most flavorful, therefore, the most generous; but it was also the most elegant, most complex and the most persistent. The opening salvo from this wine was redolent of golden pear and soft herbs with a lime-citrus top note hovering over all of it. But then it had this incredible amaro trait to the nose that is hard to place. If an Alsatian wine suggested a nightcap of Vermouth, I wrote down.
The 2021 was a warm vintage, and yes, this is the current vintage. The wine is macerated in large oak casks for between 60 and 90 days, and is then aged for three years in 20 to 30 hL barrels, and then there is an addition year in bottle. Damijan Podversic and his daughter Tamara represent so many of Collio’s schools of winemaking in one estate. Please read my recent profile on Tamara to better understand why this is so significant.
Ideal First Taste of Friulano
2024 Due del Monte Collio Friulano
A few years ago, I wrote my First-Taste Guide to Friulano, in which I recommended some great wines to find for a first taste. Let’s update that to say the 2024 Due del Monte Collio Friulano is the new best bet for an introduction.
For Collio watchers, this rather new winery has developed a passionate following. Their vineyard plots on the impossibly gorgeous Monte Quarin — the beating heart of Collio — are prime and the collaboration between Miran Buzinel and Salvador Merino Lovera is indicative of the area’s Slovenian-Italian union.
Pale straw color with green glints, the 2024 showed the poise and beautiful tension that this wine can have in youth — crisp pear, lime peel sensations; a silky texture with amazing persistence.
However, it is what Due del Monte has shown with older, properly aged vintages of this wine, that really blew me away. The 2020 “Subida 23” Collio Friulano — from a select micro-parcel made in special vintages — revealed an expansive landscape of flavors that I found enchanting, particularly a marzipan-like note that emerges in great Friulano after about four to five years of aging.
Most Age-Worthy
2024 Raccaro Collio Friulano
If there is a winery best positioned for long aging of Friulano, it is Raccaro. This family’s wines are some of the most intense and structured in the area. As a result, they demand some aging on the part of the buyer.
Going into the Collio Evolution tasting, I felt like five years would bring out the best in their Friulano, but having tasted the exceptional 2018 Raccaro Collio Friulano at the seven-year mark, I started to amend my thinking. That 2021 of theirs that I have at home? Yeah, I’m gonna wait a little longer to uncork it.
The 2024 has the ingredients for greatness too. Its potency, concentrated flavors on a lightweight frame, and enduring finish, all suggested to me that this wine’s story is far from written. But this presents a conundrum particular to Raccaro and their style of winemaking: their Friulano is so structured — its flavors so interwoven — that one finds themselves craving a delayed release and some bottle aging before it hits the shelves. It left me wondering if the market for Friulano will mature enough to accept four to five years of Riserva treatment, and whether that could some day be a financially rewarding path for this talented family.
Most Balanced Friulano
2024 Sturm Collio Friulano
These tastings usually reveal a winery that has been hiding in plain sight for me. This year, that winery was Sturm, whose vivid and explosively flavorful white wines kept checking boxes for me. As with Raccaro, a taste of an older vintage of this wine gave me insights into the current release (however, in this case, it was only two years older — the sensational 2022). The flavors are a noticeable shift: salty peach and pineapple-like in youth; more minty and hay-like with aromas after just two years. But it is the vibrancy and persistence that feels like the common ground across vintages, a consistency regime that makes both wines feel rather timeless.
The composure on display in the wines of Sturm is worth celebrating. Also seek out their Malvasia and Sauvignon. The organic “Bio” line of wines tend to be even more exuberant on the nose.
Most Linear Friulano
2024 Venica e Venica “Ronco delle Cime” Collio Friulano
When it comes to Collio producers with international prestige, Venica e Venica resides near the top and the “Ronco delle Cime” Collio Friulano is one of a handful of wines that got them there.
Giampaolo Venica has told me in the past that this wine is emblematic of the northern edges of Collio, where the Adriatic influence is dimmed by the persistence of alpine winds. “A wine from here should be more crispy, more fresh,” he said. And indeed, vintage after vintage, this stony, elegant, verve-driven wine makes a statement. The cord of acidity has remarkable endurance, as my tastings of older vintages at Collio Evolution showed (only dipping in energy after the 10-year mark). While this wine feels young, it is never as coiled and potent as some of its southerly neighbors, making it more open and ready upon release.
Most Daring Friulano
2021 Primosic “Skin” Collio Friulano
For a completely different take on Friulano, head to the eastern edge of the zone and Oslavia where Primosic makes a macerated version that would rather not be chilled. That was evident when this golden wine was poured in my glass: it was too cold! (Look, I don’t travel with a thermometer for these situations, but I did set it aside and move forward with other selections, allowing it to get into the 50º F range where it belongs).
What sprung forth on the nose was a profusion of strawberry-like fruit and fresh mint traces. If wine’s purpose is to inspire thirst and appetite in equal measure, then the aromas of “Skin” accomplish the mission. There are some austere moments, particularly the traces of tannin, but this wine is not shy about flavor, and it beautifully represents a fascinating end of the spectrum. To taste Venica e Venica > Raccaro > Primosic in close succession was a memorable journey. Add Damijan Podversic’s “Nekaj” into the mix, and you have a symphony.
Best of the Widely Available Friulano
2024 Borgo Conventi Collio Friulano
Producing nearly 300,000 bottles of wine annually, Borgo Conventi is one of the larger producers of Collio wine, and indeed, one you are more likely to find on your store shelves. Everything I’ve showcased thus far requires some searching, so I wanted to at least include one that doesn’t.
Borgo Conventi’s picturesque cellar is also one of the area’s most evocative (see photo at right/below), and worthy of a visit if you are in the area. Their 2024 Collio Friulano had lean and razor-sharp acidity, which had me thinking about what a smart by-the-glass selection Friulano tends to be, simply because it holds its shape after being open and re-corked. Offering subtle fruit notes akin to tart strawberry and pineapple, this wine has nice potential and is a good value.
Note: I was invited to attend the Collio Evolution as a member of the media (the only American journalist in attendance). My travel and accommodations to and from Venice and Collio were covered. Learn more about our editorial policy.
