Borgo del Tiglio Collio Chardonnay 2019
We have 6 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Collio is known for its ponca, the crumbly sandstone and marl of an ancient seabed, but Borgo del Tiglio's Chardonnay grows on something different. It comes from the Ca' delle Vallade hills between Brazzano and Ruttars, near Cormòns, on a southeast-facing slope where the soil, which locals call carantan, is mostly reddish marl. The site runs cooler than the surrounding zone because the cold northeast Bora wind pushes through it. The Collio hills sit between the Alps and the Adriatic, with warm days from the sea and cold air from the mountains. That cool pocket is the reason this Collio Chardonnay keeps its tension through barrel fermentation and nine months in wood.
The Wine
This is 100% Chardonnay. Grapes are hand-harvested and sorted, moved by gravity, and pressed in a pneumatic press with slowly rising pressure. Plots are vinified separately, fermented in barrique, and aged at least nine months in barrel, about 30% of it new. The fruit and cellar are the same as the estate's Selezione: the highest parcel or the best barrels go to that bottling, and everything else becomes this wine. In past vintages Borgo del Tiglio Collio Chardonnay has shown golden apple, chamomile, dried hay and lemon verbena, a little toasted coconut from the oak, and a saline streak that stretches the finish. With six years behind it, expect the 2019 to have moved toward honeyed apple, hazelnut and hay, with the cool-site acidity still holding the frame together.
The People
Nicola Manferrari studied pharmacy out of respect for family tradition and was working at a pharmacy in Gorizia when his father, Giuseppe, died in July 1981, just before harvest. His mother put him in charge of the family's small vineyard in Brazzano, under 3 hectares at the time, on land the Manferraris had farmed for four generations and that has carried vines since at least the 1700s. He taught himself largely through trial and error and French technical literature, and his methods, which looked eccentric in the 1980s, set the standard many Friulian growers now follow. The farming is strict: no fertilizer, full grass cover, hand harvest, and botrytized fruit left on the vine even when it costs volume. His son Mattia now runs the estate. Borgo del Tiglio is one of the benchmark estates for white wine in Friuli.
Food Pairing
This is barrel-fermented Chardonnay with enough acidity to handle butter and cream. Try veal scaloppine finished with lemon, capers and brown butter, where the acidity matches the sauce and the oak echoes the browned butter. Porcini risotto finished with Montasio or Parmigiano picks up the wine's hay and nut. Seared scallops over parsnip purée play the wine's texture against their sweetness, and a Friulian frico, crisped potato and Montasio cheese, lets the salinity cut the fat. Open it on a Sunday when there is time to cook slowly and let the bottle change over two hours.
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Chardonnay, one of the world's most versatile and beloved white grape varieties, showcases a remarkable spectrum of styles, from the lean, mineral-driven expressions of Chablis in France to the rich, buttery, and oak-aged versions from California's Napa Valley. Its adaptability extends to cooler climates such as Burgundy, where it achieves elegance and complexity, and to regions like Australia's Yarra Valley, known for producing vibrant and fruit-forward renditions. This grape's ability to reflect its terroir, coupled with winemaking techniques, results in a wide array of profiles, including unoaked, crisp varieties with apple and citrus notes, to full-bodied wines with tropical fruit flavors and creamy textures.
