Bortolusso
Friulano and Pinot Grigio from the Friulian plain near the Adriatic — honest, clean, inexpensive, and the proof that Friuli's everyday whites can be as good as its famous ones.
Friuli-Venezia Giulia runs from the Alps to the Adriatic in Italy's north-eastern corner, bordering Austria and Slovenia, and its white wines carry that crossroads in them: Italian fruit, Central European precision. The famous names are in the Collio hills; Bortolusso farms the lower country toward the coast, where the soils are alluvial and the sea breeze keeps the whites fresh.
We import two: the Friulano, the region's own grape (once called Tocai), with its almond-and-pear signature and gently bitter finish, and the Pinot Grigio, made the Friulian way — dry, taut and stony rather than soft. Both are priced for the weeknight table.