The Autumn brings us many good things here in Italy. Grapes, olives, truffles, porcini mushrooms, chestnuts…and ribolla gialla? Standing outside the osteria Sbarco dei Pirati in Udine, I saw a sign reading “E Arrivata. La Vera Ribolla.” The true ribolla has arrived? And for only 1.30 Euro a glass? I think this would be a must-try situation! I’ve had ribolla on a few other occasions back in Los Angeles, but always in the, you know, fully fermented and bottled stage.
Ribolla gialla is a grape found exclusively in the region of Friuli (and also Slovenia). Is the wine in its best form in the “nuovo” stage? I think not. But, it sure is a tradition around here and people like it. Maybe it began when everyone got too impatient to wait for this yummy white wine to finish fermentation, “It’s still a bit too sweet, cloudy in appearance, kind of like juice-y wine…..but, who gives a hoot! Let’s drink it anyway. And better yet, eat some of those perfectly in season chestnuts while we drink it.” I didn’t have any chestnuts, but I enjoyed my glass outside with two drinking companions; a life size statue of a pirate and an older woman taking a smoke break and drinking her ribolla on ice. Tradition!
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