Ribolla Gialla: in Friuli Venezia Giulia since XIII century
Ribolla Gialla is a very predominant grape in Colli Orientali del Friuli and Collio Goriziano.
Ribolla grape has a typical deep colour, light-bodied, high in acidity and floral scent, hints of apples, citrus and almonds. It changes its body depending on the areas of production.
Ribolla Gialla is now also present in small amounts in Napa Valley, California thanks to George Vare, especially fond of Friuli Venezia Giulia where he became friendly with a local winemaker worldwide appreciated for ageing his wines, including Ribolla Gialla, in clay amphorae. This great and fine wine from Friuli Venezia Giulia become such an interesting grape that even in California there’s a “Ribolla Fest”.
Ribolla Gialla history
The grape is originally from Greece and appeared on its first written documentation in Friuli Venezia Giulia on a notarial contract dated 1289.
The Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio indicated indulging with a glass of Ribolla wine as one of the sins of gluttony and when Leopold III, Duke of Austria, established his reign over Trieste, the regional capital of Friuli Venezia Giulia, stipulated that the city supply him each year with 100 urns of the region’s best Ribolla.
Antonio Musnig (Italian writer of the XIX century) considered the Ribolla wine as the finest white wine of the Friuli Venezia Giulia.
In the late XIX century, the phylloxera epidemic devastated most of the vines, including the Ribolla and forced this region winemakers to replant their land with French imported wine grapes.
Less than 1% of all Friuli Venezia Giulia DOC white wines was Ribolla, but by the turn of the XXI century, an international interest drove the increase in the plating of this grape.
Ribolla Gialla is now a very appreciated and fine in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.