2019 Arbe Garbe White Blend Russian River Valley 750 ml

Friulian white wines are having a serious moment among the vinous cognoscenti, and California’s top wine talents want in. We’ve lost count of the 100-point winemakers seeking out Malvasia and Tocai Friulano grapes for their passion projects on the side, and almost every one of them cites this white blend from Arbe Garbe as their inspiration. 

Though the grapes in this blend might be hard to pronounce, their resulting wine is dangerously easy to drink. The monumental 2019 is so aromatic and textural that you can practically taste the Friulian cover crops (called arbe garbe) for which it's named. 

A soft golden core hints at the light skin contact this wine undergoes before the bouquet explodes with layers of yellow flowers, fennel seed, and honeysuckle. Generously concentrated while still incredibly light on its feet, a bright lemon pith character is awash with mouthwatering acidity and heightened by white pepper and grapefruit through the long, gorgeous finish. 

Produced in minuscule quantities, Arbe Garbe’s Friulian-inspired white wines have set the California benchmark for this dazzling style in 2007. The industry has been transfixed ever since—with vintners either trying to emulate Arbe Garbe in their own cellars or purchase one of the label’s (now) impossible-to-find bottles. 

Friuli is Italy’s northeasternmost region bordering Austria, Slovenia, and the Adriatic Sea. It’s home to the sharp-peaked Dolomite Mountains and the brisk, aromatic white wines that grow there. Letizia Pauletto and Enrico Bertoz met there in the vineyards as philosophy students, working harvests to fund their education until wine became their education. Fueled by the same fascination with Beat literature and old American folk music, the young couple packed up a guitar, a few books and little else before crossing the ocean to make wine in California. 

After two harvests in Ventura learning the ropes at 100-point powerhouse Sine Qua Non, Enrico and Letizia found they were unable to shake their love of vibrant Friulian white wines. Enrico went on a search for the native Malvasia and Tocai Friulano of their homeland and found just what he was looking for in the Russian River Valley. 

A unique blend that begs to be paired with English pea risotto or a spring salad with melon and prosciutto, this is a beautifully textured white wine that will linger in your memory long after the last glass has been drained.