Collio

The Collio is known as one of the best white wine regions in Italy. The area lies in the province of Friuli Venezia Giulia on the border with Slovenia between the towns of Prepotto in the north, Cormons in the west in Gorizia in the east.

Unlike most doc(g) wines in Italy, the Collio is a specified wine region and not a specific wine type bound to one color where only a few grapes are allowed for the blend. The Collio DOC allows as many as 12 white and 5 red grape varieties which can be used in a blend or for single variety wines. The blends do stick to using only white (Bianco) or red (Rosso) grapes.

The most important white grape varieties are the indigenous ones: Friulano (previously called Tocai Friulano), Ribolla Giala and Malvasia grapes as well as international ones such as: Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Riesling (Italico) and Sauvignon. The lesser known grape varieties: Muller Thurgau, Picolit (a sweet grape) and Traminer aromatico are also allowed. The allowed red grape varieties are all international ones: Cabernet, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Nero.

Because of the diversity in grapes it is difficult to indicate what Collio wines have in common taste-wise. What wines from the Collio do have in common is that the quality is very high as well as that most wines are produced using environment friendly techniques.

Collio has the DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) classification, the second highest in Italy.