Collio's reputation has come and gone in certain markets, but it certainly remains one of the finer places to make white wine in Italy. Last week I again visited this lovely region to see Carlo Schiopetto, who with his siblings Maria Angela and Giorgio has followed in father Mario's footsteps. I can today well imagine why he left his job as a lorry driver from Udine to settle here. It is a bucolically serene vineyard area on the verdant hills of northeastern Italy only a stone's throw from the Slovenian border. Although I had long not thought much of what was once Tocai Friulano, I was pleasantly surprised by how how this varietal can develop with bottle age. That said, I was equally impressed by the 2004 Refosco from Ronche di Cialla that we had with dinner at the Castello di Spessa.  Comments