While decidedly old-world in technique and utterly classic for the region – it doesn’t get much more Friuli than Friuliano – there’s nothing staid about Visintini’s ‘Anfora’ offering. It’s a wine that feels surprisingly modern (especially given the estate’s century-plus history) but also somehow ingrained; varietally correct and expressive but with a little added oomph. 100% hand-harvested Friulano macerates for about 38 days in terracotta amphora (Georgian qvevri) – imparting, in the end, a luscious golden hue and texture to the wine, versus anything tannic or astringent (or particularly ‘orange’). It ages for another year in amphora, and one in bottle before release. Slightly veiled at first pass, the nose unfolds slowly, first fresh white flowers, then pulpy melon, tangerine, hay, and sage. An earthy, old-school-made-new-again cuvée, marked on the palette by notes of almonds, sun-baked stones, golden apple, and mint, with just the right amount of acidity to balance out the full bodied nature of the wine.
Siblings Palmira, Oliviero, and Cinzia Visintini are wine geeks of the best kind; the family are intellectual and inquisitive about wine, connected to the larger world outside of the Colli Orientali DOP and at the same time very aware of farms making interesting wine in Friuli, and a respectable portion of the original 13th century cellar is crammed with Palmira personal wine stash. Just six kilometers from the Slovenia border, the location of the Visintini winery has a history that dates back to the Middle Ages, to 1290 to be exact. Grandfather Domenico bought the estate and its ruined medieval tower in 1884, and since 2002, the siblings have run the place. Here in Corno di Rosazzo, you can see Slovenia from their farm – it’s the next line of low hills on the horizon, 6km away. The guiding principle in the cellar is to do as little as possible and in the fields Oliviero is charting a path toward biodynamic agriculture. After years of organic farming they are recently certified, and have begun making their own biodynamic composts and other preparations.