FUTURISTIC FRIULI 👾 (NIKOLAS JURETIC PHILINE ISABELLE + A. LOPEZ)

Source note: This post is adapted from Parched's June 16, 2026 newsletter

Heya,

Good weekend? Mine consisted of escaping London for a day drinking wine in a brutalist carpark in Margate. Probably the strangest venue I’ve been to for a wine tasting, but nice to catch up with suppliers and growers alike. How was yours?

Back in the comfort of the big smoke and we keep welcoming in new wines. Nikolas Juretic is from Cormons, a village in the Collio Goriziano in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, just next to Slovenia and about twenty minutes east of the region’s famed Gravner and Radikon.

Before the project, Nikolas studied both art and oenology. He draws all the beautiful label artwork himself! Then he gathered experience across various wineries from close to home all the way to Mornington Peninsula. Most recently he collaborated with the legendary vine pruners Simonit & Sirch, a partnership that took him around the globe for a decade, teaching people how to give their vines as much longevity as possible through sensible pruning. This philosophy of vineyard management is reinforced by farming practices that draw on organic, biodynamic, and permaculture principles.

All vineyards are over fifty years old, trained in the traditional double arch Guyot. Vine density is deliberately low, so the plants can grow freely. The canopy is left untrimmed, leaves kept to protect the bunches from the sun, and the grass rarely cut to allow spontaneous herbs to seed and encourage biodiversity. All parcels bordered by forest, further supporting the variety of plant and animal species present here! Teeming with life.

In the modest cellar, just a handful of concrete vats and wooden barrels. Nikolas processes perfectly ripe grapes, ferments spontaneously and then leaves to mature on their lees. The resulting wines are elegant, soil-driven, and complex, with a beautifully tense structure and exceptional length.

These are wines without reference point, though naturally you look to the region’s greats. Radikon was my first true wine love, and there are obvious similarities given the proximity. Yet these feel different. More nuanced and more precise. Less in your face, less VA, more meditative. Less oxidative and powerful than Gravner too. Utterly unique wines with very bright futures ahead of them. They are some of the most compelling bottles I’ve tasted for some time.

This is the wine that made me fall in love with the producer. South-facing on the warmest side of the region, some vines dating back to 1910. A week of maceration in concrete for a golden-hued masterpiece. Depth of flavour but just so effortless. Also mind-bending is this Pinot Grigio heavy blend. A slightly pinkish hue followed up by a grapefruit-like palate. Tangy and beautiful phenolic bitters. Spice and salt. Honey and caramel. A kaleidoscope of flavour I can’t stop thinking about.

The white is mainly Tocai Friulano which has such a wonderful profile when directly pressed. A cool vintage rendering something herbal and unique. Gin and tonic levels of refreshment. Soothing chamomile, wet grass and a cooling acidity. The Rosso too is a real medley of red fruit and florals. A distinct green peppercorn thing going on that I imagine comes from the Schioppettino, whilst the Merlot doubles down on something herbal. Freshened by 30% white. Divine. Hard to categorise apart from utterly delicious. Like a combination of all my favourite wine regions in one really moreish bottle.

He makes tiny tiny amounts of wine. We don’t have very much. These are truly interesting wines, ones for a curious palate. So if you want to break free from the norm and drink something that will actually get your pulse racing, take a look. More excellent reading can be found here.

Was gonna end it there but new wine from Philine Isabelle has become available. Every year these sell out faster and faster. Truly, no introductions needed. Dolcetto, Barbera, Langhe and the Barolo. THE Barolo. A lovely quartet that maxes out at about a dozen bottles across the range. Again, be quick. Shipping tomorrow.

Tiny amounts left of our Arnaud Lopez allocation too. Some blouge, a NV blouge, Golden Pinot Blanc, declassified Pinot, top top Pinot. 2024 was a challenging growing season but you could never tell in the glass. They’re the lithest I’ve seen from Arnaud and some of my favourite straight on release.

Big guns only this week.

Bisou
Fionn
xoxo