Yesterday afternoon I ambled down to the Enoteca di Cormons, a little place in the main piazza that hosts the who's-who Cormonese wine (an enoteca is, by definition, a place that serves wine, be it local or not, decent or "green"). The Enoteca di Cormons is spectacular, and a showcase solely for the wines made in these hills. It is here that the town comes together. One can find postings for cooking lessons and jars of fresh pesto, weekend itineraries and maps of the town, little red dots illuminating the various vineyards; mopeds are for rent, German and Austrian tourists directed out into wild Collio. The walls are lined floor to ceiling with shelves holding bottles, all varietals and blends.

Cormons is a mix of new and old, nature and science. There are those vineyards who stress excellence, the brilliance of newfangled "enology", each grape varietal stressed and monitored and tweaked to produce something complex, something with depth. "Be all that you can be", etc. Then there are those vineyards who hold a rigid respect for tradition, season, honesty. The land and the weather, the care during growth and the solid process of production make these wines. These are the wines the people of Cormons know, the wines that can be- upon sip, sight, smell- called out by name and age, point of origin, by those who understand this area, those who were born here.



My glass for the day was from one of my very favorite vineyards, Livio Felluga. It was years ago that I first tasted a wine from this estate. I was shopping at Whole Foods with my ex. We were going to make some sort of cod cooked in parchment paper, lemongrass and citrus seasonings, if I recall. The bottle cost way too much, but the label was so pretty! A map of some sort, of some place far away, in the depths of Italy. I remember looking at it and thinking that if we substituted steamed white rice for the wild...if we used orange zest instead of buying the fancy citrus oil...we could swing it. And what a Pinot Grigio is was! I kept another blog at the time, the web address for which I have forgotten- it is floating around out there somewhere- and I remember blogging about this wine. My ex and I decided it was the very best wine we had ever had. We asked ourselves, what magical land could create something like this, so sunny, so sweet, so chilled?

I had been in Cormons for about a month when I saw this same bottle downtown, same label at least, and I was thrilled with the heavens to realize that that magical wine was from here. Where I now lived. Full-circle, fate, kismet, etc. Though the wine is of the "enologically improved" variety, and therefore rather pricey (and "froo-froo", as FL puts it), it is still on the my favorites, if not only because it is delicious, because it has a place in my heart. And they make all varietals! Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon, Picolit, Rosenplatz, Chardonnay...you name it. Their Terre Alte is, in fact, considered one of the best white wines in Italy.


The weird thing is, I never saw Livio Felluga for sale at Whole Foods again. It is, though, for sale at the wine expo shop on Barrett Parkway. Possibly for cheaper. So if there's a pretty party to go to, or a nice dinner to accentuate, or just a cool late-summer evening to spice up, go find a bottle. A little bottle of Cormons in Georgia; I dream of such things.