Paolo Meroi's son walked into the wine bar today and sat there telling me about his family. 5 generations of wine making in Fruili with varietals like Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, & Merlot. He expressed that the majority of these wines had been planted on Meroi's panco soils since before phylloxera. Panco is an alluvial soil, but it's high mineral content and structure makes hard clumps that almost look like schist, it's a tough soil which forces the vines to dig up to 3m deep for resources.
Starting with the Meroi 2008 Sauvignon Blanc I was immediately greeted by the familiar smells of sauv. blanc encased with this intense smokey aroma. With a blanket of umami on my palette combined with Sauvignon Blanc's tartness this wine made it clear fromt the start that it was not a Sauvignon Blanc to be taken lightly. Fruili wines overall seem to have this quality that can only be described as Cheese-a-licious.
Overall the production at Meroi is about 20,000-25,000 bottles. On challenging years, they often do not produce very much at all, letting only the best grapes get to the press. Years that are tough in Fruili go from harsh rains to extreme highs around 105° Fahrenheit.
The Chardonnay seemed to hold up better to the intense meatiness that the terroir imbues into the wine...as well as some oak too!
The Néstri, a blend of 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon had really intense plummy nose and here is where the meaty earth really made the wine complex and animalistic. I would recommend this wine to those who want to be blasted with terrior and umami, perhaps a lover of aglianico!
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