2015 Frus Refosco: Tasting Notes And Review Of A Great Natural Wine
The Frus Refosco 2015 is a red wine that puts you at peace with the world. It has no ambitions to rewrite the category; on the contrary, it plays by subtraction, eliminating the stylistic trappings typical of many Friulian reds to get to the point.
We do not want to criticize the Friulian red wines too much. Still, there has been exaggeration in recent years: endlessly pumped extract, overripe fruit, muscles, and no expressiveness. And when it comes to Refosco, the character, that juicy fruitiness, the ease of phrasing between salt and citrus fruits are fundamental.
Of course, the market wanted the Bolgheriana matrix bombs, but many winemakers realized it and began to produce purer, nervous, and cutting wines, let’s say charismatic and able to express themselves for what they are and not for they should be for the market or fashions. This does not mean it is a rustic wine without control or “only a juice.” Not at all. It does not give up a milliliter of complexity in favor of “compulsive drinkability.”
How is it produced?
The cellar is part of the Triple-A producers, a guarantee. Over 40 years old vines, silty soils with a strong presence of scheletro (what is locally called Ponca) with an abundance of minerals and marine fossils. Maybe it’s not the Chablis, but you can feel the difference.
And for this, we say that the return to a clearer and more mineral Friulian red wine is a blessing because the basis for making great wines is already there. No cosmetics are needed. Maceration for 10 days with spontaneous fermentation in steel and aging in eight-hectolitre Slavonian oak barrels. The wine is neither filtered nor clarified, and no sulfites are added.
Organoleptic characteristics
The bouquet is enveloping and warm, mottled with flowers, roots, and flowers. The sumptuous charm of Refosco is there that it tickles your nose. It has an enveloping and greedy fruit, with balsamic and seaweed traits. Overall it is very penetrating and sinuous. It does not stop at the jam and jelly station but goes straight on its way—finish of cocoa and rhubarb.
It is very decisive and juicy on the palate, with a medium but not massive structure. The trait is bold. It flows gritty and sharp, well designed by elegant, deep, but never powerful tannins—endless returns of aromatic herbs.
As a wine, it is splendid for its charisma and cleanliness. It has elegance and courage, it has not been shaped by wood, but it manages to express itself with finesse and unique features. Despite having an excellent naturalness of drink, it is never taken for granted.
Drunk now is excellent, but you can leave it in the cellar for 10 years without fear.
Price
Twenty-two euros: a more than fair price for an excellent natural wine with a bright future.
Food Pairings
Tacos, black truffle risotto, passatelli with Parmigiano fondue and truffle, bucatini all’amatriciana, roast beef, hamburger.