Friuli

Friuli Pinot Grigio is northeast Italy's serious answer to a grape more often made cheap and neutral: a dry, structured white of ripe pear, blanched almond and citrus peel with real weight and a savoury, mineral finish. Grown in the cool hillside DOCs of Friuli-Venezia Giulia near the Slovenian and Alpine borders, it sits between the pale, brisk Grigio of the Venetian plains and the broad, honeyed Gris of Alsace — the same grape, a middle path of texture and freshness.