WBW#41 Has Been Announced: Friuli Whites. Yum.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: Italian white wines are some of the most exciting wines in the world to me right now. I certainly owe some of that fascination to my good friends Jack and Joanne who run the web site Fork & Bottle, with whom I’ve had a chance to drink more than a few stellar examples of the form. It will come as no surprise then, that their choice as hosts of this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday, is to have all participating bloggers drink white wines from Italy’s Friuli region.

Officially known as Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, this little region is tucked into the far northeast corner of Italy, alongside the country’s border with Slovenia and Austria. If Italy is the boot, then Friuli is the little flap of leather that you use to pull on the entirety of its knee-high leather goodness.

Friuli is known for its white wines, and in particular for the myriad indigenous grape varieties that taste as mysterious as they sound: Ribolla Gialla, Vitovska, Malvasia, Traminer, Picolit, Muller-Thurgau, as well as, of course, the grape formerly known as Tocai Friulano. Just thinking about some of these delectables makes my mouth water.

So whatever you do, don’t miss your chance to try some great white wine on or before January 16th, for the first Wine Blogging Wednesday of 2008. Just get a Friuli white, drink it, and review it on your blog. You don’t even have to have a blog to participate.