Friulano

Friulano is the flagship white of Friuli-Venezia Giulia in north-eastern Italy, a dry, medium-to-full-bodied wine of quiet character built around ripe pear and yellow apple, a signature bitter-almond note and a savoury, herbal-mineral undertow. Known until 2007 as Tocai Friulano, the grape is in fact Sauvignonasse (Sauvignon Vert), a distant relative of Sauvignon Blanc, and it is the emblematic pour of the Friulian osteria — the wine poured by the glass, the tajut, to go with the region's cured hams and cheeses. Fuller and rounder than most Italian whites yet crisp enough to stay refreshing, it is a food wine first and foremost: understated, textural and deeply regional.