My last day and night in Italy involved the following things: wine (duh), wonderful people, a trip across the border to Slovenia, a Christmas tree lighting and…cookies. Cookies with my wine actually. First stop: to see Elena Parovel, the 4th generation of the Parovel family making wine just near the border of Slovenia. Parovel is a powerhouse winery and company producing a lot of great wine (and olive oil) and bringing a lot of business and commerce to a small area of Friuli. I stopped by their beautiful tasting room and cellar for a lovely afternoon line up of Friuli’s best: vitovska(!), refosco, malvasia istriana and terrano.
The most interesting wine I tried was the 2006 Matos Nonet, a blend of malvasia istriana, sauvignon blanc & semillon. Unique for the area for sure, which is why they chose to name it Matos (a play on the italian word matto, meaning crazy). As I was sipping, Elena stepped away for a moment and returned with a small white box wrapped in a red ribbon. When she told me they were cookies made specifically to taste with the Matos Nonet, I couldn’t get that little red ribbon off fast enough.
Elena said she tried 25 other recipes before choosing this one. So, brava Elena! Job well done. The cookies perfectly complimented the wine. They were kind of crumbly and compact at the same time made with a very small amount of butter, Parovel olive oil, thyme, white sesame and topped with Slovenian sea salt. Just plain delicious. And such a great new way to further explore a wine.
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