The great variety of soils, of microclimates and also of the human microcosms that characterize the viticultural world of Friuli-Venezia Giulia has such a heterogeneity to render impossible any form of comparison between them. If, however, it would be out of place to try to put on the same level, for example, Colli Orientali del Friuli, Collio Goriziano and Carso, this does not mean that, in each of these areas, there are real enclaves of excellence that a wine enthusiast has learned to love, bottle after bottle, over time. This is the case of Mount Quarin, at the foot of which rise the famous town of Cormòns, the beating heart of Collio Goriziano, and the church of Santa Maria, surrounded by some of the most prestigious vineyards of the entire denomination.
In this very piece of land, in 1928, Giuseppe Raccaro built a farmhouse in which, in the ’70s, his son Mario, a veteran of his studies in enology, began to produce and market grapes and wine. The qualitative leap occurred in 1986 when Mario’s son, Dario, took over the reins of the winery and began to raise the quality of the wines produced in a decisive way, with the support of his wife Dalila. Today they are the sons of Dario, Paolo (agricultural expert) and Luca (winemaker), who run a company that is able to make people talk about itself despite having only six hectares of vineyards.
The production philosophy of the winery is pretty simple, and it is based on a great dose of common sense, aimed at exalting what of good the famous eocene flysch soils (in Friuli known as “Ponca”) are able to bring to grapes. In the vineyard the soil is left to grow spontaneously and is not fertilized, while in the cellar are made soft and quick pressing (maximum 50 minutes per turn) followed by static cold decanting. Among the four wines produced there is the Collio Malvasia, a wine that carries out the two fermentations (alcoholic and malolactic) in steel tanks, at a controlled temperature (18,-20,) and ages on the fine lees, always in steel, for about six months, before bottling.
The 2020 vintage has a straw-yellow color with an olfactory fan that opens on notes of medlar, yellow plum, iodine and hawthorn, followed by strawberry tree honey, chlorophyll, white pepper and wet pebbles. The palate develops with a play of references between iodine flavor and softness, with a slight background of balsamic and spicy: all enriched by the return of the yellow fruit at the beginning point of ripeness and minerality that accompany the sip to a good length closure.
Rating: 88/100
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