Grape Variety: Tocai Friulano

Colour: White

Sauvignon vert (also known as Sauvignonasse & Friulano) is a white wine grape widely planted in Chile where it was historically mistaken for Sauvignon blanc. The grape is also known as Italian wine grape Tocai Friulano in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.

The grape is believed to have originated in the Veneto region and from there travelled to the Friuli region and other Italian wine regions such as Lombardy. In Italy the grape was historically known as Tocai Friulano even though the grape has no known relation any of the grapes used in the Hungarian wine Tokaji even though evidence suggest that following the 17th century wedding of the Venetian princess Aurora Formentini to the Hungarian Count Batthujany that some vines of Tocai Friulano was brought with the princess to Hungary. To better distinguish the wines and to protect the Tokaji name, the European Union established regulations prohibiting the use of names too closely associated and easily confused with Tokaji. Winemakers in the Friuli have elected to just refer to the grape as simply Friulano.

From Italy the grape is believed to have spread to France where it was transported to Chile as “Sauvignon blanc”. Only in the 1990s did ampelographers determine that that the Chilean “Sauvignon blanc” was actually Sauvignon vert. Once the discovery was made, plantings of “true” Sauvignon blanc increased as Sauvignon vert (or Sauvignonasse as it known) decrease.

The flavour of the wine depends on the work done in the vineyard. Tocai can easily be rather blowsy and uninteresting. Dario Princic’s Jakot is anything but. Princic believes in delivering what nature delivers him – here the beautifully ripe, healthy grapes from biodynamically tended vineyards come into the winery (traditional fermentation vessels here) and undergo fermentation with natural yeasts. Punch downs and skin maceration account for the delicate amber colour. The nose is understated – apricot kernels, butternut and warm spice (ginger). The wine is smooth and marrow-like in the mouth edged with wild herbs, beautifully fugitive. Jakot? Tocai – forgivable persiflage. With the Hungarians causing a Furmint about the trademarking of Tokaji this delicious natural wine is a cheeky reminder to those Magyar putzes that you can take away the name but you can’t take away the identity. I can imagine this with a sliver of pecorino or one of those amazing fish soups that you can get in Trieste.

The Friulano from Marega has a fresh bright nose shows lovely fruit and a slight nuttiness. On the palate there’s a lovely freshness to the supple, nicely textured herby fruit.