La Ribolla Gialla, a delicious and highly prized wine that has been very interesting. Let’s find out some details together!

The origins

Its ancestors seem to be the Avola grape, imported by the Romans during their dominion in Friuli. According to another thesis, instead, the Robola variety that was cultivated in Friuli Venezia Giulia during the period of the Venetian domination of the Ionian and Dalmatian islands, diffused by the Venetians at the time of the Most Senerable Republic of Venice. The most accredited hypothesis remains that supported by many scholars who consider this vine of native origin.

There are many varieties or clones of this vine including the more traditional Ribolla di Rosazzo, the white Ribolla imperial (also called Ribuelàt and which was grown on the Premariacco area), the Ràbola, Ribolla di Castel Dobra and Ribolla Verde. The latter two varieties were and are still cultivated on the Slovenian Collio, where they give excellent results.

The territory

Born in the hills of Rosazzo (UD), this vine and other variants were grown in the strip of land that Terceno descends almost to Istria. The Ribolla Gialla finds its best expression in the hills, where this vigorous vine, with buds and late ripening, gives excellent results and for this reason its cultivation never reached the plain.

The area that most of all has been able to give and receive from Ribolla Gialla is the Collio in the provinces of Udine and Gorizia. In these territories, this wine has collected the fruits of the past, of the traditions, of the transformations in the viticultural field.

The vinification

Traditional winemaking included grapes together with Friulano (ex Tocai) and Istrian Malvasia but later, in the majority of cases, it was decided to follow the vinification in purity, which enhances the freshness and elegance of this vine, with less full-bodied wines fresher, with floral aromas that are always elegant and refined.

However, there are several products that are the result of oenological experimentation that make Ribolla Gialla a very ductile grape, a consequence of the high malic acidity, capable of supporting sparkling wine and even long periods of aging.

If you are interested in sampling the Ribolla Gialla sparkling variant of Loredan Gasparini, the first inventors, this is the right time!

Good day

Ilde