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Wine Description
The Story
Miani is the home of Enzo Pontoni, who must be one of the finest white wine producers in Italy, if not the world. No words can accurately describe this modest estate located in the DOC of Colli Orientali del Fruili, near the village of Buttrio. The entrance to the estate is perhaps the most unglamourous welcome you’ll find. A handful of chickens and a broken tractor are all that greet you, but don’t underestimate Pontoni’s ability. His skills are not restricted to only his estate. He is now also consulting, just up the road, at Meroi.
Miani has 13 hectares of organic vineyards, spread across multiple varietals. These include Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Refosco. Density is high - each hectare shoehorns in almost 7000 vines. Even with the high-density of the vineyards, yields are kept low, at around 20 hectolitres per hectare. Only 12 000 bottles are produced each year, and only if Enzo believes the juice is worth the squeeze. In 2002, for example, no wine was released - the harvest simply not up to Pontoni’s high standards.
All wines are barrel fermented, with about 40% consisting of new French oak. Processes in the cellar remain rustic, discarding malolactic fermentation, and unconcerned with temperature control. Wines are bottled per vineyard, to highlight the subtle changes from one to the next. It’s not just his whites that are worth noticing. You’ll also find a rich and polished Merlot, and a flagship Refosco known as “Calvari.” Both are aged in 100% new oak.
Enzo Pontoni took over the family vineyards after his father passed away. This reclusive maverick owns a mere four hectares of vineyards and rents another nine, all of which he runs organically and from which he produces less than 700 cases a year. He works in shockingly unassuming cellars where he transforms his minuscule yields of a dozen different varieties into delightful, rich wines. The result is a tiny line of decadent, full-bodied, complex wines that are near impossible to obtain and one of which is perhaps Friuli's greatest example of Sauvignon Blanc.
Wine Information
Elegant, complex, layered, explosive and weighty, the Friulano from Miani is the perfect white to enjoy in cold weather, but it’s also a gorgeous wine for warm weather too! The fruit of a ripe vintage, this Friulano is impressively powerful, offering myriad notes of citrus peel, white wildflowers, bitter almond, and light spice. Full-bodied and slightly oaked with concentrated flavors, this wine offers a streak of minerals and a long finish. Located in Friuli's Collio Orientali, a prime sub-region DOC north of Trieste that’s sandwiched between Udine and the Slovenian border, Miani’s vineyards sport a soil known as Ponca soils, marl with limy marine deposits, which make the estate’s whites especially taut, vibrant, and elegant. Estate owner Enzo Pontoni is maniacal about low yields, which means that in low production vintages like 2013, his wines are remarkably textured, complex and opulent.
