▷S4E14 Tazzelenghe: the “Tongue-Cutter” Wine

English

Dec 27

Fabio is one of eight producers making wine from Tazzelenghe. Thanks to Fabio and his friends, this ultra-rare Friulian red wine grape is the rise. The name means "The Tongue-Cutter" in the local dialect. The grape has an enormous personality, packed with complexity, acid, and tannin.

Before modern improvements in winemaking and wine growing, the only way to tame Tazzelenghe's exuberance was time. Listen to the full interview with Fabio—full name Fabio D'Attimis Maniago Marchio, the son of a Count and the 18th generation to steward his family's land—to learn why he describes today's Tazzenghe wines with one word: Elegance.

Rose Thomas met Fabio at Ian D’Agata’s “MicroMega” exhibit at Vinitaly in 2023, where he was pouring Tazzelenghe from all the producers who band together to promote the grape. They met again at Vinitaly in 2024, where she tasted through Fabio’s family’s wines, and again at a tasting of the wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in New York City’s Bryant Park.

Fabio’s family cellars sound quite breathtaking, do make sure to visit their estate in Buttrio next time you are traveling through the northern Adriatic (hopefully soon!)
www.contedattimismaniago.it
Follow them on Instagram @attimismaniago_wines
Write to Fabio: fabio@conteattimismaniago.it

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Fabio: Tazzelenghe is a good example. Sometimes people ask me, "But how come there isn't a lot around? Is it maybe because it's very delicate? Is it because it's prone to diseases of sorts?" And I have to answer, it would be nice to say, "No, it's so difficult. Nobody can make it aside from us." But it's not true. It's actually a fairly resistant variety. And why is that? Because it's always been in Friuli. It adapted to a fairly challenging climate for the vine. Tazzelenghe, Pignolo, Schippettino. All of these varieties have adapted and have survived for a reason.
[Intro] Welcome to Modo di Bere, the podcast about local drinks and local sayings. I'm your host, Rose Thomas Bannister.
RT: My guest today is Fabio D'Attimis Maniago Marchiò, a wine maker from Friuli-Venezia Giulia and an advocate for the red wine grape Tazzelenghe of which there are only six hectares planted in the entire world. Fabio's family company Conte D'Attimis Maniago has a history with wine that goes back 400 years.
Before we start the interview, I want to remind you that Modo di Bere is a listener-supported podcast. Please take a moment to visit patreon.com/mododibere and become a paid supporter to access exclusive educational content about drinks and dialect. Fabio and I will be here when you get back.
Fabio, one of the first things that fascinated me about Italian wines is families have been maintaining their agricultural or we should say viticultural traditions for, like, five generations, but the Conte D'Attimis Maniago website says that something about 18 generations. Tell me more about that.
Fabio: Yeah, I'm currently the 18th generation. Agriculture is fine at the end of the day. Viticulture is, it's agriculture with a different word, like, more specified, but it's still farming at the end of the day. So I kind of like that. It's nice to keep it as as such, let's say. But yes. Yes. We're lucky enough that we kept records of what happened and what didn't happen. I'm the 18th generation as we were saying before. We acquired the estate on the 15th of February 1585. We have the exact day and month and year because we acquired it through a marriage. So this lady marries this guy Pompeo de Maniago and she brings the estate into our family. So it's a bit sexist but that's how it went because technically we could even say that we had it since, you know, before then, but, you know, back in the days was the male surname that counted. So here we are.
RT: But it was her land.
Fabio: Yeah, it was hers. It was hers. Hers her family. for family at least.
RT: That's great.
Fabio: But yes, since then we've never moved. Always made wine there. Various stages, various things, but with various sizes as well, but always kept a family tradition alive, let's say.
RT: What is it like for you to carry around such a long history? What if like what if you decided, "No thanks. I'd like to become a lawyer."
Fabio: [laughs] Why not? Uh, no. So, it's funny. It's a question I get a lot. Obviously, I don't mind it. I enjoy it. It's like—you feel the pressure. Yes. Because you don't want to be the last generation obviously, but it's always something that I've wanted to to do. You should also take into account the fact that I live literally 100 meters away from the winery itself. Which is where my father has worked all his life, which is where my life revolved around. So I was— first time I I started working full-time in the winery, I was on a computer looking at old documents and news articles and stuff that was published throughout the decades, let's say, and I found a an article written in I think it was 2002ish, something like that, about this journalist who came to visit the winery and he wrote up this piece.
What I remember about it is that at some point he was making his way through the barriques and the wooden barrels and so on. And whilst, I don't know, inspecting it, I don't know how, but he found a little toy car and and he described the scene saying, "Oh, I found this toy uh between the barriques. It's a good sign to me because it means that, you know, there are kids here that will probably take on the family tradition." So, it's always been something that I've never really questioned. So, I have a degree in economics actually, so I could have gone on and done whatever in any other industry. Economics has a [inaudible] that is a fairly versatile degree. And for a very short time I wanted to study law. That would have been the worst mistake of my life. But let's put that aside.
I questioned it [wine] at some point in my life. But I've always wanted to do it anyways. It's always been something that was there. And I think it's and I'm happy it's been I've been working full-time in the winery for about four years I would say something like that. And I'm enjoying it so far. So.
RT: That's great. So what is your main role with the winery today?
Fabio: It's a family business. So you do a bit of everything. So I do labels design labels, buy labels, buy bottles, buy corks. So all of the bureaucratic side of things. Mostly, I would say that what I do is export manage management and sales...
RT: Okay.
Fabio: ...outside of Italy. Because as a company, as many other older companies, we've been for a very long time focused on Italy. Which is fine, like, at the end of the day. Nowadays, it's easy. Like you hop on a plane you get here, you have emails, you have WhatsApp, you have you have means to contact and get in contact with everyone from all over the world. In the '50s, not that easy. I don't even know if a thing in the '50s. And even then, how did you find an importer? And after you found the importer, how do you get paid exactly?
RT: Right!
Fabio: Well, at some point it has to happen. So, shipping, shipping time, I have no idea what shipping times were were supposed to be. So, you always developed every older winery that you have encountered I think said some similar things. You always start with a local domestic market and then you start to expand with the closest market: Austria, Germany, and then you move on to other things, like, right now, the US for example. And I'm aided by the fact that I can speak a bit a bit of English, and I can speak a bit of German, whilst my dad just doesn't. He just speaks French.
RT: He speaks French.
Fabio: No, he speaks French. The old language of wine was French. Wasn't English. It wasn't surely wasn't German.
RT: Right. Right. And French and Italian wine makers have a long history of working together and which I find really interesting. And of course there are a lot of French grapes in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region where your family makes wine. But you guys specialize in the indigenous vines in Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia, Schioppettino and of course Tazzelenghe. So why are those indigenous vines so important to your family?
Fabio: So it's not like to say that international grapes are bad. I a big fan of Merlot for example from from the area of Buttrio. I think Merlots from Buttrio are amazing. I really like Pinot Grigio, as a matter of fact, when it's done well. I think it's a great variety to grow and all of these varieties have been there for centuries at this point. So even though they're not international, they're surely not that far away from being a native variety. We've studied them, replicated them in a way that adapts to our soil, our land, our climate, but still they're not native.
So on the one hand, I like them. On the other, I have to admit that it's still not something that is indigenous to the land. It's still something that hasn't fully adapted to our terroir, to our soil, to our climate.
Tazzelenghe is a good example. Sometimes people ask me, but how come there isn't a lot around? Is it maybe because it's very delicate? Is it because it's prone to diseases of sorts? And I have to answer, it would be nice to say, no, it's so difficult. Nobody can make it aside from us. But it's not true. It's actually a fairly resistant variety. It doesn't suffer that much. It's fairly constant in terms of production. And and why is that? That's what some someone might ask. Because it's always been in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It adapted to a fairly challenging climate for the vine. Friuli is a rainy region. Used to be the rainiest region of Italy for a very long time. And rain means diseases. It means mold. It means that you have to be careful in general when growing plants or growing vines. Tazzelenghe, Pignolo, Schioppettino, all of these varieties have adapted and have survived for a reason. The reason is that they were constantly in production.
Nowadays were very like geek about wines and we tasted and have the all of these different procedure to make a good wine. Back in the days the important thing was to make decent acceptable wine. That was it. It was part of the culture, was part of your your everyday meal centuries and decades. And and that that's what the most important thing was, finding a grape, a variety that was constant and both from a quantity perspective and also from a quality perspective, obviously.
RT: So, Fabio, we met at the Tazzelenghe stand in the MicroMega exhibit at Vinitaly, which is a giant wine fair that happens every spring in Verona. This exhibit is curated by Ian D'Agata, who's a expert on native Italian grapes. So I want to know about Tazzelenghe, the wine, and also about this group of advocates that started working together to promote it.
Fabio: Yeah. So Tazzelenghe is a grape. It's probably the most rare native variety that you can find in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, at least [for a] red skinned grape, but I think also white. Honestly, it's very interesting grape because it has a very interesting story and because it's a very interesting wine. I'll start with the wine and then we'll go ahead with the story because at the end of the day, the wine is the most important thing. Then you can build up.
What I really love about Tazzelenghe is the extraordinary elegance that it inherently carries. It's a big wine. Tazzelenghe is always a big wine. Doesn't matter who you go to. There are six hectares of Tazzelenghe. As we said before, there are about eight producers. So there is not much to taste, but every one of us makes [a] very important wine, a very big wine. And when you encounter a big wine, sometimes it can be a bit harder to drink. It can be a bit more daunting, a bit more difficult to enjoy, which is not something that I'm a fan of.
RT: In terms of acid, in terms of tannin, in terms of...
Fabio: In terms of body, in terms, how big it is in the mouth, in terms of how many different aromas you feel. Sometimes people are afraid of this complexity.
If you think about it, most of the wine that people drink is what we in the wine world might consider fairly easy-going wines, very drinkable wines, not overly exaggerated or concentrated wines.
Whilst Tazzelenghe has has a very rich and complex nose. It has a very big palate so the taste stays in the mouth for a very very long time. It's it's got a lot of body. It's usually one of the last wines when when you come to my winery and taste wines. It's usually one of the last wines we taste for this exact reason because it goes above everything else pretty much. And sometimes these kind of wines tend to be a bit too much.
What I like about Tazzelenghe, as we said before, is the elegance, the acidity in the mouth, the nice balsamic notes in the nose amongst the many other notes that you find in the nose keep it very fresh, keep it very drinkable still in in in its category. So that's what I really really love about Tazzelenghe. To me, if I had to define Tazzelenghe in one word, the only word that comes to mind would be elegance, basically.
It's also got a very interesting story. Tazzelenghe the name comes from the dialect the Friulian dialect: "Tazze-lenghe," tongue-cutter, because when it's young the tannins are so strong and so prevalent that the feeling in the mouth it's as if it was cutting your tongue. So it's got this beautiful name.
Me as as, let's say, my family is particularly connected with Tazzelenghe also because the first time that you read the word "tazzelenghe" in a book or in general writing, it was in 1823 when the first catalog of vines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and a small portion of Veneto was published. It was a catalog that was asked [for] by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, because at the time we were Austrians, and it was published by a guy called Pietro di Maniago. Pietro Maniago was an ancestor of mine. So it's again, this double link, not just the wine itself, but also the history of the variety that you know keeps me attached to this this vine in particular.
But aside for that, I think even even if we put aside all the stories, the fancy things that we can tell each other, the wine it's speaks for itself. It's just an amazing wine.
RT: So, what about this group of producers? There are seven producers [correction: eight] today making Tazzelenghe. And you work together to promote the wine. That's how we met, when you were not just showing your own wines at this fair, but you had several Tazzelenghes back to back so that that people could taste. So, what's going on with those efforts? I'm really interested when a group of farmers does this to try to valorize an undersung grape in their region.
Fabio: The idea comes from a basic need to promote a grape that nobody knows. Even in Friuli, people don't know about Tazzelenghe. I get sommeliers from Italy asking, "I've heard about this grape but I've never had the chance to taste it." They might they might have been sommeliers for like decades, but they never had the chance to find, they, you don't find it. I make 1500 bottles a year in total, I think altogether we probably make 9,000 bottles a year. It's literally nothing. So, how do you promote on your own a variety like that? You simply can't. With this amount of of soil, with that surface area, you just can't do it on your own. You have to do it together. And I think it was easier to do it with Tazzelenghe than when with other varieties also because Tazzelenghe for all of the producers is a special wine. It's not an everyday wine. It's not the wine that, it's not, your—Pinot Grigio. Okay, not to—again, I really like Pinot Grigio, as a matter of fact, but still [Tazzelenghe is] something that is reserved for a special occasion. It's something that you have people taste, but you explain to them it's something that you're passionate about. So, it's not something that can ever make you fight about it. It's it's a common ground, in a way: this love for this specific, odd, niche variety that not many people know and not many people have ever tasted in their lifetimes.
And I think it's a necessity, if you want to move forward—to go back to the to your previous question about international varieties and native varieties: as we said before, I have a degree in economics. Sadly, but someone has to have it. My point is: Pinot Grigio. You can make good Pinot Grigios everywhere in many places, not everywhere. You can find good Sauvignons from France, you can find good Sauvignon from New Zealand, Cabernet, you can find good Sauvignons in in the US, you can find them in many places of the world. Merlot, you can find good Merlot everywhere.
Tazzelenghe! you find it in Friuli. Malvasia. You find it in Friuli. Pignolo. You find it in Friuli. You don't find it somewhere else.
So, it's it's also this uniqueness that I think needs to be enhanced, needs to be uh put under a spotlight, let's say. And I think Friuli has been doing it in a very good way. Tazzelenghe has its own group that tries to move uh and and promote this variety in various ways, shapes or form. Whenever we taste Tazzelenghe, and I think all of the other producers do it as well, when we talk about Tazzelenghe, we don't forget to mention other wineries that you know might do it and it's easy to point them in that direction on once you're in the region. We've done fairs together with a Tazzelenghe booth dedicated solely to Tazzelenghe in Vinitaly. We've done tastings in the region and outside of the region as well. Ian D'Agata was a big big help [with] that. We've done even a tasting in the US embassy in Rome at some point. So that's what we tried to do.
But the region, the whole region is actually doing this. So we were talking about Pignolo before. Pignolo has an association as well. Pignolo has an association as well. They do a world Pignolo day on the 20th of March. They do events as well. We do events as well. I make also Pignolo. I should be the president of the association. So yes.
It's something that I think also, due to a new generation of wine makers going in Friuli which is gaining traction and becoming more and more prevalent. These sorts of partnership[s], however you want to call them, it doesn't matter, are becoming more and more important. People are realizing that we are against a very big and wide ocean of wine and if we want to stand out we need to do it together. You cannot do it on your own. And it's something that we are getting now, but if you think about history the Barolo boys did exactly the same thing.
RT: I think, even, for a local example, it's on the radar of New York sommeliers, such as myself, the Schioppettino grape and the efforts to valorize that grape from producers like Ronchi di [Cialla] for instance. Do you feel that once one grape, besides these international grapes, is shown to be a market success, that that gives kind of a a boost to other efforts to to revitalize some additional grapes in the region?
Fabio: For sure. I I'm confident that that's what's going to happen. We're talking about six hectares, so it's not a lot, but I'm planting some more. Another company's planting some more. I know that a new company that wasn't making it before has started making it. It's still not selling it. So, you know, something is moving half an hectare here, half an hectare there. Not massive numbers, but you need to start somewhere. And once you show people that it's doable, that you can actually do it.
Yes: it's difficult to sell Tazzelenghe, because people don't know— What am I going to hear in this few days that I'm going to spend in the US that I will spend with salesmen and traveling to accounts and so on?
"Ah, it's difficult because nobody orders wine that they don't know."
Yes, that's true. But it's still doable. And if you don't try, you will never know. And once you've shown—we can talk about Tazzelenghe, we can talk about Pignolo, we can talk about Ribolla Gialla, it doesn't matter. Once you show that it's possible, then obviously other people will do it because I'm not the only one who who would rather drink a glass of an indigenous variety from Friuli, from its own land, than you know your average international—"average international." And again! I don't want to say anything bad about international varieties. I grow them and I love them.
RT: I'm not dogmatic about that either. My love for Merlot, for instance, which has found a wonderful terroir in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, I don't think diminishes my fascination for the indigenous varieties of the region. But just, Merlot, doesn't need my help. Merlot is doing fine. You know—Sideways aside. It doesn't need to be talked about as much as as Tazzalenghe.
[music]
RT: I just wanted to say, that I think, what a lot of people don't necessarily understand, is how many scientific advances have been made in terms of grape growing, in terms of wine- making that have made it possible economically for farmers and winemakers to invest time in certain indigenous grapes that maybe were left behind for reasons of lower production and and things like this. So, I think that's kind of a wonderful development that people are starting to realize. Like, oh, okay, you know, maybe this takes a little bit of special management, but it's worth it.
Fabio: Exactly. Yeah.
RT: Give me some "recommend if you like" for Tazzelenghe. I mean, I think of it as like a fantastic, like, big steak wine, you know, and I know that a lot of people think about the white wines from Friuli-Venezia Giulia, particularly from the Collio region, but there's also some really great big reds like Tazzelenghe, like Refosco, like Pignolo that I would love to be on more people's radar. So ,what do you, if, who are your Tazzelenghe fans? What are they drinking now, who might want to discover it?
Fabio: Tazzelenghe is a very big wine. So it needs, it's best if paired with, you know, a big steak. If you were from a rural area I would say boar or some like wild animal of sorts because that's, again, that's even bigger. You need, anyways, I would prefer it with a bit of like a meat that has a bit of fat in there. The acidity cuts through and it's a great pairing but you need something that has, that can stand up to the wine. Let's put it like that.
People drink Tazzelenghe because, firstly, they taste Tazzelenghe at first because they've never heard of it. Even yesterday we we met at this event in Bryant Park and most people that approached me and asked me about Tazzelenghe it was because they didn't, they've never heard of it. They knew maybe that it was a grape, but a grape that, they've never tasted it. So they said let me try this.
But tasting it is a is the easy part for me. It's easy. The question is, are you going to drink the second glass? Are you going to actually order it? Did you like it? Really truly like it. And I think Tazzelenghe achieves this this result in general. In general, whether it's mine or it's someone else's.
As you as you were saying before, yes, Tazzelenghe, the reason why there are only six hectares of Tazzelenghe, it's not because it's a difficult plant to grow. It's not because it made a bad wine or it was an unreliable vine. It's just because you need to wait a bit. You need a bit of patience because when it when Tazzelenghe is too young, what you might, the problem you might face are the tannins. You you have to fight against its name at some point and you need to avoid having wine that is undrinkable and that you know dries your whole mouth and you need to drink a glass of water after you had a a sip of that thing. That's not probably the aim of of wine in general.
In the, back in the days, in the '60s, '70s, '80s when wine consumption in Italy was very, very high, you didn't have time to wait five, six, seven, eight years before making a Tazzelenghe, before making a palatable wine, let's say. So what you had to do was change variety basically. That's how your Merlot, your Cabernet got bigger in the area. Because Merlot for example are very reliable every year. They make a decent amount of of grapes and they make a almost always an okay wine. Maybe not every vintage is extraordinary, but every vintage is okay. Tannins are not a problem. Acidity is not a problem. It's always very reliable. It's it's a it's a great go-to, let's say, for for a winemaker.
So, that's that's the reason why [Tazzelenghe] got, let's say, left behind. Late '80s, '90s, 2000s, that's when we as winemakers started to, and producers, [were] starting to focus more on quality in general in within the region. And that's when you that's when you start to go back to [Tazzelenghe].
In Friuli, there is another issue. Friuli, as you said, is mostly well known for white wines, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon [Blanc], Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia Istriana, these sort of varieties. 80% as a matter of fact, of the total production of the region, is white wine still.
And then the second problem is that we have a bunch of native varieties. We we don't just have you know Sangiovese. We have: Friulano. Malvasia. Ribolla Gialla. Verduzzo. Picolit. Pignolo. Tazzelenghe. Schioppettino. Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. Refoscone. Refosco di Faedis. Then if you move a bit you got also Terrano. You got the very tiny productions, almost completely forgotten ones. Picolit. Picolit Neri. Fumat. Ucelut.
You have an abundance of native varieties that is, I think, mostly unparalleled, even in Italy. And all of these varieties are grown. Let's put aside Picolot Neri, Fumat and Ucelut. The other are easy to find. You can find them in the region. You can find them also in the US, as a matter of fact.
You had to pick and choose something. Average Friulian winery will have probably 10 hectares and 12 varieties, but there is a like there is a lo—stop point where you need to say, okay, "12 varieties is fine. Less than an hectare, per, is fine, but I can't do 15. I can't do 25." And that's how maybe Tazzelenghe got a bit left behind. You needed to choose something.
RT: And economically, it's difficult to invest in something and then wait six years to be able to sell it.
Fabio: Yeah, of course.
RT: I mean, that's why you see whiskey producers making gin. When I was in Scotland, I noticed that a lot of the Scotch producers were making gin because that's something that you don't have to age.
Fabio: No.
RT: So you you can start getting getting revenue.
Well, I am curious because one of the reasons that indigenous grape revitalization is so important is because of climate change and how that's affecting wine around the world. And you're seeing people experimenting with planting different varieties in almost a feverish way. And I'm curious about how to Tazzelenghe might do in a region like the Fingerlakes in upstate New York for instance where it's cold and wet.
I recently was able to interview Elisabetta Foradori from the Dolomites and she helped revitalize the Teroldego variety and this is now being planted. I've now, just, in my work on the show, I have tasted Teroldgeo from three continents not just Foradori but I tasted a Teroldego from Kalasi Cellars from Texas and, up in the Finger Lakes, actually tasted a Teroldego that's planted in Australia, by the Living Roots winery, who also make wine in Australia.
How would you see Tazzalenghe potentially fitting in for producers around the world who are experimenting with more indigenous Italian varieties as they diversify their plantings in this time of climate change?
Fabio: To me that's a very big question because wine... like, you got the grapes. Yes. But there are various aspect that transform, let's say the grape—or the vine, better—into the actual grape, and then wine. There is climate, obviously, there is a variety you're growing. There is climate, there is a type of soil, but there is also like the action of of the of the winemaker. The decisions that that you you pick and choose that are based on uh sort of a culture, a palate, a taste, that is different from even in Italy, even from one region to the other. Taste is very different. We're not even talking about different continents. And now you've brought into into discussion, even different continents.
And yes, there is Schippettino in Oregon, by the way. I cannot remember the name of the winery, Bell something. And to me, the question is, okay, maybe from a climate standpoint, it can work, and maybe it works better than Syrah, Cabernet, Pinot Grigio, Merlot or whatever.
The question is what is Tazzelenghe? What is Ribolla Gialla? What is Teroldego?
Is Teroldgeo just a grape? Or is Teroldego also something more? iso the way in which the producers of that area have always interpreted Teroldego, which is still, not, let's say, cemented. It's something that changes every year.
For example, in the late '90s, we used to do quite a bit of of drying on the, on the Tazzelenghe. We [ourselves]. Then we moved towards, just, maturation, dryings on on the plant itself. A late harvest, let's say.
RT: I noticed some people making a "ripasso" from Refosco!
Fabio: Yeah. Yeah. No, no, it's it's all techniques that you can do, and it's not, nothing is written in in stone we say in Italian. I don't know if it translates well in English, but nothing certain. Things are moving. But my question is, still: can you call it Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso if it's managed on a different soil, in a different climate, from, especially, my point is, a different person. Someone that has no connection whatsoever to the original history of the grape? Question mark! I do not know. I don't have an answer to that.
RT: I mean there's a reason that you are especially excited about the indigenous varieties. They've had longer to adapt to—
Fabio: Friuli!
RT: —to your climate than Merlot, even though Merlot has had a couple hundred years. But in a sense, those grapes are still catching up in terms of, also, plant mutations and things that create this local expression. You would say. Maybe those things are in a little bit of, push-pull.
Fabio: But maybe you can find, maybe you can even find an area that is very similar to to the soil of Colli Orientali, or with a similar climate to Colli Orientali, that is as rainy as, on average.
And and again, I don't want to seem like I have an answer to that, but you're making different choices. Cabernet in Italy is a thing. Cabernet in the US, it's a totally different wine, even though the grape is very similar. Chardonnay, similar thing. So question is, can you call the wine Tazzelenghe even though the grape is exactly the same? I don't know. I don't know.
I'm excited to see people plant it overseas because I'm always excited when people plant native varieties. Doesn't matter where they plant it. And I hope they grow. I've had a chance to taste a couple of Ribolla Gialla, Friulano, maybe in Washington, in the Seattle area. There is a winery owned by an old Friulian guy who then pass it on to someone else, and they still have a couple of of vineyards of Friulano and Ribolla Gialla, and they make an old blend which was was very very interesting. But surely a different uh interpretation of the grape compared to the one we do in back home, let's say. Was a great wine as a matter of fact!
RT: So it's exciting to see these indigenous varieties planted around the world, but also wine is not like corn! It's got a lot more factors going into the production and the growing and, the "terroir," as they say. It's not an interchangeable product to— Tazzelenghe from from one place versus another, which is certainly an important point in in terms of some of the export problems that we're having now in the United States.
Can you teach us some modo di dire from Friuli?
Fabio: I won't give you a modo di dire. I will give you an expression that you hear, often times, from people, which is something that people joke on me, because I use it quite a lot, actually. Which is, "Bon bon."
RT: "Bon bon."
Fabio: "Bon Bon." It's when you're talking, you know, you're you're talking about whatever, and at some point, you know, conversation becomes moot or you know what you have to do. You got to a point where the conversation has to end. Say, okay, "Bon bon." And then you go about your business, let's say.
RT: Oh, that's so funny. I love that. That's beautiful. How would you spell that?
Fabio B O N space B O N.
RT: That's hilarious. I love that. Thank you.
Fabio: It's like "Bene bene."Something like that.
RT: You're like you're like, "Okay, okay." Yeah. Oh, I like that.
Tell tell me a little bit more about visiting your estate and the experience that people would have to come to your winery and maybe a little general Friuli-Venezia Giulia travel advice.
My winery is located with near Udine, is in the center of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Best way is to rent a car. Honestly.
There are two main airports. One is Venezia—Venice—and the other one is Trieste. Sometimes overlooked. But with a connection, you can get there. You either hop on a train, or you grab a car. which is probably the best thing to do. And then I my personal recommendation is just to travel. Like, find a road that you like on top of a hill and go and go and go.
You will be at some point in front of a winery. Stop there. Uh politely say, "Do you have time? Can I taste a few wines?" 99% of the people will say yes, unless you're coming in September. September is harvest time. Please don't do it. But in any other period of the year, it's more than fine, more than welcome.
We love our jobs and we usually like to talk about it. In terms of recommendations, I surely recommend you to visit the wineries that make Tazzelenghe. I cannot avoid that!
One of us, is, us. Then there is Marina Danieli in Buttrio. Then there is the winery Gianpaolo Colutta in Manzano which is very close by. Then you have Jacùss near Cividale. Cividale is a beautiful little town that I would highly recommend everyone who is in the region to visit.
Then you got La Viarte in Prepotta. And if you're in the area you know that Schioppettino is very very big. So you might also taste some Schioppettino di Prepotto once you're there.
Then there is a winery called the Le Due Torrii in [Trecisimo]. Everything is very close in Friuli. I'll stop saying that! Then you have there's always a few that I skip for some reasons. Ah then if you're going south towards let's say Palmanova, those areas, you have Tenuta Pribus, also make Tazzelenghe, and you also have Ronco Margherita which makes some beautiful Tazzlelenghe.
RT: Oh that's great. It sounds like a road trip to me.
Fabio: Yeah, it does. You start from the hills and then you go back towards the sea.
RT: So, Fabio, where can people follow you, find your website, make a plan to to visit you?
Fabio: Website is is contedattimismaniago.it.
We have Instagram which is @maniago_wines. If not, fabio@contedattimismaniago.it. That's my email, and I usually reply within a couple of days, usually.
RT: Okay, that's great. Well, I'll make sure to put that information in the notes and, thank you so much for coming on the show! It's been a real pleasure getting to know you and talking about Tazzelenghe.
Fabio: Pleasure was all mine.
RT: Wherever you go and whatever you like to drink, always remember to enjoy your life and to never stop learning.
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