I am the great Corno di Rosazzo...you will give me tocai?

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Colli Orientali del Friuli Corno di Rosazzo Galea (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – When this producer’s wines first came into my market, they came in all at once, back to the first commercial vintage (’97), and the remarkable thing was that the ’97 Galea was not yet fully mature. That was a few years ago, and repeated dips in the well have demonstrated that it either still isn’t ready or that it has hit a long plateau and will never be “ready” in the way I’m apparently expecting. The evidence of other vintages, some of which matured faster and/or differently, still gives me a measure of hope, but I’m running out of bottles with which to test my theory. As for this, purchased (in quantity) from a recent store closeout, it’s definitely more at-peak than any ’97 of my acquaintance…though that assessment should be filtered by the possibility of variable treatment along the way, as is the case for any after-vintage closeout. Well, anyway, blah blah blah, how about this bottle? Spectacular. It’s a nervy skeleton, clacking and scraping in a stone cage, yet the bones are bright, clean, and strong. So much attention is paid to the more orange-tinted products from this region, but this – neither traditional nor paleo-modernistic – deserves more attention than it gets, and it gets a fair amount. (7/11)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Colli Orientali del Friuli Corno di Rosazzo Galea (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Swaggering, which is an odd thing for a Galea to be doing (Brazan can get a little braggy after a few drinks), but I like it. Whites, beiges, tans, and creams are the “fruit” in this wine, the acidity’s supple and subtle but present, and there’s an appealing late-stage creaminess to the texture. I’d think about drinking this one sooner rather than later. (8/11)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Colli Orientali del Friuli Corno di Rosazzo Galea (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – A heavily-soaked cork doesn’t bode well, and this is decidedly more advanced than any Galea of my experience: thick, slow, and a bit oxidized (that is: oxidized beyond the usual oxidative tendencies of friulano made in this fashion). Bronzed stone fruit – or maybe ambered – demi-glace, cashew oil (a touch stale), incredible weight without much antigravitic structure. Despite all this, I see some lingering appeal in the wine, though none of the three others for whom I open it share my limited enthusiasm. In any case, this is not an intact bottle. (9/11)

Orientali express

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2004 Galea Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Drinking a young Galea can be a little like trying to slake a hearty thirst with an icicle. This is no exception, and even though it’s decanted early and aggressively, not much can be coaxed from it over the course of an hour, other than beige minerality and a firm structure. I love these wines, but I love them with age, and since even the 1997 (the first vintage of this wine) isn’t yet fully mature to my palate, I see no reason to submit any additional stocks to this manner of infanticide. (2/10)

Arz & mine

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2004 Bianco degli Arzillari (Venezia Giulia) – Made from verduzzo. Served from two different bottles. The first has been open for a while, and it shows, with an oxidative, ribolla-like brownout flatness to the palate, yet retaining a good deal of spice and baritone hum. The second is from a fresh bottle and much livelier, yet still with the weight of something more rich than crisp, a fuzzy-edged structure, and a fairly long yet mildly anonymous finish. This is an interesting wine, but I suspect verduzzo is of a little more utility in the winery’s more famous blends. (12/09)

Ferdinando's hideaway

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Fairly advanced for this bottling, which has spent some time in a warmish store (Vintages, Belmont Center) and might have been displayed standing up for a time. All this really means, though, is that the wine is a lot closer to full maturity than pristine bottles: honeysuckle and fine-grained pollen with a lovely milky texture and very good length. (12/08)

Brazzano-burning

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Colli Goriziano Brazan Brazzano di Cormons (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Waxed peaches. Quite flowery. Texturally, waves of luxurious satin envelop the tongue, and get sexier with each passing minute. While this isn’t fully mature, it’s drinking beautifully right now. (11/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Colli GorizianoBrazan Brazzano di Cormons (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Reddish fruit at the core, surrounded by wet wax and bronzed, metallic jacket. A triangular wine, drinking as well as it’s ever going to…which makes it the rare Clivi white that’s truly ready. (11/07)

I am the great Corno di Rosazzo

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea Rosso Corno di Rosazzo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – 100% merlot, planted at 2000 vines per hectare. Earthy/gritty tannin, granular cherry and strawberry, and then a finish with the rough, friction-y texture of old leather. A bit of whiskey barrel sweetness emerges on the finish, but the wine isn’t hot. It is, however, in need of drinking. (11/07)

Galea sayers

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – While it appears to broaden in the glass, in fact this wine is a lot less forward than it was a year earlier, so those holding some will now likely need to wait out its maturation. Herbs and a fine minerality are at the core, with a crescendo to a feathery finish that, nonetheless, remains full of mineral solemnity. (11/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1999 Colli Orientali del FriuliGalea Corno di Rosazzo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – From a warm vintage in which some of the berries started to desiccate, then recovered some of their plumpness just before harvest. This has opened a bit since my previous tasting, and the dominant characteristic is that of honey without its sweetness, lightly dusted with dried sage. Long and round, but still too young. There’s a very mild and pleasant oxidation on the finish, which I find to be entirely typical of these wines, and in fact hardly unknown among tocais in general. (11/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Colli Orientali del Friuli) – Mostly open, but I still wouldn’t say it’s on the far side of maturity. Wax and oxidation layered with late-autumn leaves and a long, sandy finish. Letting its hair down, and those with a quantity will want to start sampling from their collection. (11/07)

Brazan it out

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2003 Colli Goriziano Brazan (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – A little better than the ’03 Galea, with a more cohesive form. Grapefruit and other assorted citrus rinds are present, along with some alcoholic numbness of the finish. It’s big. After a few hours of air and warmth, the nose is much improved, adding fig, melon, and cantaloupe to the fruit salad. But while it’s the more drinkable of the ’03 whites, at least at the moment, it’s still fundamentally deformed by its vintage. (11/07)

Galea-force winds

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2003 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – A little bit sulfurous at the moment. The nose is heavy and alcoholic (it was, as everywhere else, a very hot year for grape-growing), and not showing much under its twin assaults of lead and SO₂. The finish suggests mint, but it’s tight. Solid, fat, long, but formless. However…after two hours in a warm (that’s European “warm”) room, a little bit more has emerged, including some ripe melon and a harder edge to the structure. It’s still a fat, flabby wine, though. (11/07)

That old Galea of mine

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2000 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea Rosso (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Smoky meat, mushroom, and fine-grained tannin. But that’s all there is, and this wine is beyond difficult at the moment; I have confidence for the future based on past performance, but it’s not worth drinking right now. (9/08)

What you call Corno, we call maize-o

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Colli Orientali del Friuli Galea Corno di Rosazzo (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – A little more advanced than other bottles I’ve tasted, though I still wouldn’t call it ready (and I attribute the difference to normal bottle variation). Parchment, bones, tea, grey-white soil, dried apricot chip, and more. What begins with brittleness and spines smoothes and rounds as the wine lingers. Just beautiful. (6/08)

Ferdinando's hideaway

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Galea Corno di Rosazzo Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Opens with a nearly-silent austerity, to the extent that I’m initially worried it might be corked. It grows with air and time, building paper-thin layers of straw and the palest yellow fruit atop a firm yet elusive foundation; the structure’s there, but it’s impossible to say exactly how. And yet, it never stops holding back, no matter how many times I go back to it later in the evening, or even the next day (it certainly doesn’t fall apart over that period). Supremely elegant, and if I knew the wine better I’d presume that it was still not at full maturity, but I doubt even the Zanussos know for sure. In any case, it has not undergone the transformation evident in its companion wine, Brazan. (3/08)

Gangsta's paradise

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Brazan Brazzano di Cormons Collio Goriziano (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Forward and eager to please, wrapping thick, gelatinous crystallizations of stone fruit around an obvious, iron-like minerality. Luscious, and completely dominating its restrained brother, the Galea. Yet for such immense appeal it sacrifices a certain intellectualism; I’m not quite ready to say this is Dionysus to Galea’s Apollo, but the suggestion is there. Also unlike the Galea, it shows minor signs of decay twenty-four hours later. This would appear to be mature…and rather deliciously so. (3/08)

The sea of Galea

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2002 Galea Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Rain-churned dust, shells, and hazelnut with…marshmallows? If so, they’re natural, unsweetened, and slightly green. It’s a difficult descriptor to use, because it suggests the wine is synthetic when in reality it is almost completely the opposite; marshmallow is, here somewhat of a textural descriptor…but then again, not entirely. If anyone has ever tasted real marshmallow (from the plant), they’ll know what I’m talking about. The wine moves from Mario’s suggested lightness to greater weight and fatness on the midpalate, then recedes again, while at the same time building an edifice of spice and complexity on top of its foundation. Very tight, but balanced, with acid perhaps a bit more present than in other vintages. The finish is very, very long. After an hour or so in the glass, floral notes emerge. This should be a beauty, one day. (7/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Galea Corno di Rosazzo Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Strong anise up front (which Mario identifies as the verduzzo). Bigger and more forward than the 2002, showing ripe tangerine rind and bitter orange soda on the finish. It nestles the palate for a time, then turns more angular on the finish, which is shorter than that of the ’02. For whatever reason, I find this wine a half-step behind the 2002 in quality, though I think it will age just about as long. (7/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1999 Galea Corno di Rosazzo Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Served warmer than I’d like. There’s a touch of volatile acidity here, and a slight prickle to the palate, which has a texture similar to that of linen. A bit fat, with perhaps a touch of heat (though that’s undoubtedly exacerbated by the temperature of the wine)…though this is clearly a big wine by any estimate, with juicy orange and greengage plum beating on each other like a large-barreled floor tom. Later cooling just mutes the wine, without really dealing with the more functional issues. (7/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 1997 Galea Corno di Rosazzo Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Dusty, with a beautiful mineral-driven nose. Later, there’s lemon verbena and mint, along with creamed apricot blossom and peach flowers. The palate is explosive yet silky, and the age lends a sensation (but not the actual presence) of sweetness. Gorgeous, and at a fine point in its maturity…though I don’t see any need for panicked consumption; this wine is still quite intact. (7/07)

Brazan it out

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2002 Brazan Collio Goriziano (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Aromatically austere. When it finally opens – not an easy event to coax forth – it shows honeysuckle, dried mineral salts and hyssop. The balance is exquisite, the finish lingering and delicate, and the overall impression of the wine is beautiful and refined. Extremely impressive. (7/07)

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2001 Brazan Brazzano di Cormons Collio Goriziano (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Fuller than the 2002, with big, salty herbs, spice, tea, and ultra-ripe apple and a fuller, riper composition. And yet, there’s such amazing elegance retained. Long, with flawless balance even though it’s heftier. (7/07)

Ferdinando's hideaway

i Clivi di Ferdinando Zanusso 2000 Galea Rosso Colli Orientali del Friuli (Friuli-Venezia Giulia) – Grey and black earth are here less a foundation than a wrapping, like a soil-enclosed truffle cored with dried red, blue and black fruit that flow forth with a gorgeous, silken texture. The finish is long, dusty and exceedingly pleasant. A very polished wine, perhaps not with the inherent character of the whites, but fine in its own right. (7/07)