WTN: 2001 Scarbolo Tocai Friulano

[Brad Ballinger]

2001 Scarbolo Tocai Friulano, Grave DOC. This wine is a bottle full of minerals, flowers, spice, and some smoke. There's fruit there, too, of course -- carambola, longan, pear -- but the focus here is on the non-fruit components. The nose carries a heavy dose of flowers, smoke, and baking spices. The minerals are showcased on the palate, more rocky than earthy or steely. It's as if one could melt down some rocks and put that liquid in the bottle. A moderate level of acidity allows all the diverse elements to play nice with each other. The wine would be a great pairing with shellfish or Chinese food -- perhaps a Chinese dish with shellfish. Above-average complexity for only $12.