iClivi, 2020 Cabernet Franc, Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, Italy
The story of iClivi begins in the mid-1990s when Mario Zanusso's father, Ferdinando, purchased two vineyards in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia around the area of Cormòns, choosing the path of the vine after 30 years of living and working in Africa. One of the vineyards, Galea, is in the municipality of Corno di Rosazzo in the Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, and the other, Brazan, just a few kilometres away in the village of Brazzano di Cormòns in the Collio DOC. Mario quickly fell in love with the beauty of the area and made the decision to join his father, and together they built iClivi into what is one of Friuli's great boutique estates focusing on showcasing the unique terroir of their regions through the finished wines.
Today, Mario is organically farming around 12 hectares of vines that are predominantly white varieties native to Friuli such as Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Giailla, Malvasia Istriana and Verduzzo Friulano, with a small parcel of Merlot. When I asked Mario about the back story of his Cabernet Franc, he shared with me that in recent years he was looking to add to his range of red wines, and Mario was particularly drawn to Cabernet Franc for its long history in the region, as well as the grape's finesse and spicy aromatics. He also shared that after finding the right vineyard, it took him a while to, in his own words, "mature a personal take on Cabernet Franc." And, the 2020 vintage marks the inaugural bottling for iClivi's Cabernet Franc.
So the Friuli-Colli-Orientali DOC is tucked up in the northeast corner of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, and this is primarily a white wine producing region, with the top three most planted grapes, Tocai Friulano, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc, accounting for around 42% of the area under vine. Cabernet Franc is the third most planted red variety, behind Merlot and Refosco, with around 102 hectares planted.
The region is situated in the eastern part of the Udine province at around 46.1 degrees north latitude, which is similar to that of Northern Beaujolais in France. The region begins around the municipality of Tarcento and winds its way down about 28km to Prepotto, and then continues southwest around 10km to the municipalities of Buttrio and Manzano. The region is bound to the northeast by the Julian Prealps, to the southwest by the Friulian plain, and the Adriatic sea is less than 40km to the southeast.
The region has a gentle climate that is protected from the cold winds to the north and northeast by the Prealps, while warm air comes in from the Friulian plain to the west. The breezes off the Adriatic Sea provide constant airflow and ventilation to the vineyards. The growing conditions during the summer are warm but not hot during the day, and cool at night thanks to the breezes that descend down from the foothills. The region experiences a relatively high amount of precipitation throughout the year, around 1500mm, with rainfall during the growing season ranging from 700mm to 950mm. Generally speaking, conditions are cooler and wetter in the northern part of Friuli-Colli-Orientali, with warmer and drier conditions in the southern part of the region.
The region's vineyard area is relatively narrow, only about 4 to 5km wide, and the vineyards weave their way through the region in the lower foothills of the Prealps, alternating between hills and valleys, intermingling with forests. This means that we will find any number of exposures across the region, that is north, south, east and western exposures, and everything in between. In terms of elevation, the vineyards typically lie between 100m and 350m above sea level, and are planted on terraced slopes or slightly lower-lying gentler slopes.
In terms of soils, what defines the region is the presence of flysch, which is known locally here as ponca. Flysch is alternating layers of marl, a type of calcareous-clay, and sandstone, which is dense and brittle, and offers excellent drainage, which is important given the higher precipitation the region experiences. The impact and presence of this flysch varies widely from site to site, and generally there are deeper sandy-gravelly topsoils on the flatter sites and lower elevations, with topsoils getting progressively more shallow with a greater proportion of clay as you move into the lower slopes, and then much thinner topsoils and a greater presence of marl on the steeper, terraced slopes.
Given the complexities of the region, that is we are in an area that is generally better suited to white varieties, with a lot of variability in terms of microclimates, exposures, amount of precipitation, and depth and texture of topsoils... all this is to say that when it come to Cabernet Franc here in the Friuli-Colli-Orientali, site selection is quite critical.
So, drilling down to where the vines are planted for today's wine, we are in the municipality of Buttrio, in the southwest part of the region. The vineyard is on a gentle slope, with a slight southeastern exposure, at an elevation of around 100m above sea level. In terms of soils, there's about 1.5m of clayey topsoil over ponca. This is a block of about 1ha of Cabernet Franc vines that were planted in 1970.
In my conversation with Mario, he shared that this block was planted during a time in Friuli when there was a lot of care and attention to planted vines, being very careful to select ideal soils and exposures for different varieties, as opposed to planting for the sake of fashion or commercial potential. He shared that this very good spot for Cabernet Franc, a bit of a goldilocks zone if you will - warm enough to ripen consistently, but not too warm, also being planted more towards the bottom of the hill allowing for slightly deeper soils, which is good for Cabernet Franc from a moisture retention perspective.
The core tenants of Mario's approach with his wines are focusing on low yields and taking a low interventionist approach in the cellar. For the 2020 vintage, the yield for the Cabernet Franc was about 5 tons per hectare, the fruit was all hand-harvested and destemmed. In the cellar, fermentation was in 55hl cement vats with indigenous yeast, and the fermentation temperature reached a maximum of around 25C. The total time on skins was around 10 days, with some light pumping over twice per day. After pressing, the finished wine is then aged in cement for around 12 months before bottling.
Key wine wine facts below:
Producer: iClivi (Mario Zanusso)
Appellation: Friuli Colli Orientali DOC
Commune: Buttrio
Soils: 1.5m of clayey topsoil over ponca (flysch)
Alcohol: 12.5%
