2019 Zidarich, Teran Rosso, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy.
One of my favorite wines of the Fall season so far, the 2019 Zidarich Teran, from the remote Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Northeast Italy, which is wonderfully elegant, medium bodied and mineral laced with dark berry fruit and a deep garnet/purple hue in the glass. As I said, when I first tried Zidarich’s 2010 version, this red is lively, vivid and tangy with strawberry, spiced raspberry, sour plums, wild cherry and is accented by delicate florals, pepper, chalky stone and fennel notes. Teran or Terrano is a native grape here, related to Refosco, and also found in Croatia as well. I was incredibly impressed by the purity and freshness of this 2019 and it is by far the best example of this under the radar varietal I’ve tried to date and I was thrilled to re-visit winemaker Benjamin Zidarich’s wines, which I’ve long admired. Benjamin Zidarich, mostly known for his all organic natural orange wines, began his label in 1988, starting with just one hectare and has since grown his holdings to 8 now, all of which are farmed biodynamically. The vineyards here, at high elevation, seeing lots of sunshine between the Adriatic Sea and Carso, are set on the classic iron and calcium-rich red soils of the area, with a core of limestone. Zidarich’s cellar is cut out of the limestone and reaches 65 feet deep, keeping it clean and cold, and he makes all the wine with native yeasts to express the terroir, as seen here.
I first met Benjamin Zidarich in 2013 when he visited San Francisco to show off his latest releases at the time which were creating a big buzz in the Orange wine world and to chat about their historic region, the Carso in the Friuli Venezia Giulia, which lies in Italy’s far Northeast close to the Slovenian border, in fact some of the vineyards straddle both sides. Benjamin Zidarich is hugely respected for his wines, and his continuing a long tradition of organic farming and an ancient style of winemaking with a proud love of land and traditions. This area has many historical influences and has those ancient traditions and customs, one of which is “Orange” wine, originally inspired by the Republic of Georgia and their amphora skin macerated and aged whites, this is white wine usually that sees a long contact with the skins, that gives “Orange” wine it’s name, with its orange/amber hue. Zidarich, along with Radikon, Gravner, Skerk and Kante are leaders in this region and have brought the world’s attention to the Friuli Venezia Giulia area. Zidarich is focused primarily on Vitovska and Malvasia based whites, done with the skin maceration, but I have really fallen for the Teran Rosso, which is aged entirely in large, very old, Slavonian oak botti, and highly recommend it, especially this exceptional 2019 vintage! A big thank you to Jannae Lizza of Elevage and Rosenthal (who imports Zidarich) for showing this beauty, which has also given me a renewed excitement and joy in the wines of this unique region.
($33 Est.) 95 Points, grapelive