iClivi, 2020 Cabernet Franc, Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, Italy
Cab Franc du Jour #129
The story of iClivi begins in the mid-1990s when Mario Zanusso’s father, Ferdinando, purchased two vineyards in Friuli-Venezia Giulia around the area of Cormòns, choosing the path of the vine after 30 years of living and working in Africa. One vineyard, Galea, is in the municipality of Corno di Rosazzo in the Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, and the other, Brazan, sits a few kilometres away in the village of Brazzano di Cormòns in the Collio DOC. Mario quickly fell in love with the beauty of the area and decided to join his father, and together they built iClivi into one of Friuli’s great boutique estates, with a focus on expressing the unique terroir of their regions through the finished wines.
Today, Mario organically farms around 12 hectares of vines, predominantly white varieties native to Friuli such as Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia Istriana, and Verduzzo Friulano, alongside a small parcel of Merlot. When asked about the backstory of his Cabernet Franc, Mario shared that in recent years he was looking to expand his range of red wines, and was particularly drawn to Cabernet Franc for its long history in the region as well as its finesse and spicy aromatics. He also noted that after finding the right vineyard, it took him some time to, in his own words, “mature a personal take on Cabernet Franc.” The 2020 vintage marks the inaugural bottling.
Friuli Colli Orientali
The Friuli Colli Orientali DOC occupies the northeast corner of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and is primarily a white wine region. The three most planted varieties, Tocai Friulano, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc, account for around 42% of the area under vine. Cabernet Franc is the third most planted red variety behind Merlot and Refosco, with approximately 102 hectares in the ground.
The region sits in the eastern part of the Udine province at around 46.1 degrees north latitude, comparable to that of northern Beaujolais. It begins around the municipality of Tarcento and winds about 28km south to Prepotto, then continues roughly 10km further southwest to the municipalities of Buttrio and Manzano. The region is bounded to the northeast by the Julian Prealps and to the southwest by the Friulian plain, with the Adriatic Sea less than 40km to the southeast.
The climate is gentle and well sheltered. The Prealps protect the vineyards from cold northern and northeastern winds, while warm air drifts in from the Friulian plain to the west and breezes off the Adriatic provide consistent airflow and ventilation. Summer days are warm but not hot, and evenings cool down with the descending foothill breezes. Precipitation is relatively high year-round, around 1,500mm annually, with 700 to 950mm falling during the growing season. Broadly speaking, the northern part of the region runs cooler and wetter, while the south is warmer and drier.
The vineyard area is quite narrow, only about 4 to 5km wide, and the vines wind through the lower foothills of the Prealps in a mosaic of hills, valleys, and forests. This varied landscape means that virtually every exposure is represented across the region, and elevations typically range from 100 to 350m above sea level, with vines planted on terraced slopes or on gentler, lower-lying ground.
The defining feature of the region’s soils is flysch, known locally as ponca, an alternating sequence of marl, a calcareous clay, and brittle, dense sandstone that drains well, which is particularly important given the high annual rainfall. The depth and character of these soils varies considerably from site to site. Flatter sites and lower elevations tend to have deeper, sandy-gravelly topsoils, while soils become progressively shallower and more clay-rich as you move up the lower slopes, and on the steeper terraced hillsides topsoils become very thin with a greater presence of marl at the surface.
Given all of this variability in microclimate, exposure, precipitation, and soil depth and texture across a region that is broadly better suited to white varieties, site selection is particularly critical when it comes to Cabernet Franc in the Friuli Colli Orientali.
The Vineyard
The vineyard for today’s wine is in the municipality of Buttrio, in the southwestern part of the region, on a gentle slope with a slight southeastern exposure at around 100m above sea level. The soil profile is approximately 1.5m of clayey topsoil over ponca. The block covers about 1ha and was planted in 1970.
In conversation, Mario noted that this block was planted during a period in Friuli when considerable care was taken in matching varieties to appropriate sites, selecting soils and exposures with real intention rather than planting for fashion or commercial reasons. He described it as something of a sweet spot for Cabernet Franc: warm enough to ripen consistently but not excessively so, and positioned toward the lower part of the hill where the deeper soils provide the moisture retention that Cabernet Franc benefits from.
In the Cellar
Mario’s approach across his wines is built around low yields and minimal intervention in the cellar. For the 2020 vintage, yields in the Cabernet Franc block were around 5 tons per hectare. The fruit was hand-harvested and fully destemmed before fermenting in 55hl cement vats with indigenous yeast, reaching a maximum fermentation temperature of around 25C. Total skin contact was approximately 10 days, with light pump-overs twice per day throughout. After pressing, the wine was aged in cement for around 12 months before bottling.
Wine Details
Producer: iClivi (Mario Zanusso)
Region: Friuli-Venezia-Giulia
Appellation: Friuli Colli Orientali DOC
Commune: Buttrio
Soils: 1.5m of clayey topsoil over ponca (flysch)
Alcohol: 12.5%