90 pts Vinous
Drinking Window 2022 - 2026
The 2018 Sauvignon (Dark Label) is savory and peppery with crushed granny smith apples and hints of smoke. It’s round and pliant in style with ripe orchard fruits, yet I find myself craving more thrust. This finishes long and lightly structured, lingering on green apple and hints of spice. The 2018 shows the warmth of the vintage, yet it remains nicely balanced. - By Eric Guido on April 2022

Made only in the better vintages, Sauvignon Selezione is a cellar selection of the best individual barrels from Borgo del Tiglio's finest Sauvignon vineyards. Nicola Manferrari works with an old local Friulian selection of Sauvignon that is quite different from modern French clonal material, producing small, loose bunches and naturally high acidity even when harvested at considerable ripeness. The best sites are cool, predominantly east-facing hillsides on Collio's marl-rich soils, where morning sun and cooler exposures help preserve the grape's aromatics and acidity. After a brief cold maceration and very gentle pressing, the wine is fermented and aged for approximately 9–10 months in mostly used small oak barrels, with only the finest barrels selected for the Selezione.

Our Take: This is serious Sauvignon Blanc, but don't expect anything resembling a simple grassy New Zealand Sauvignon or even classic Sancerre. Pale straw-yellow in color with green highlights, the nose is pronounced and complex, with white peach, green apple and ripe orchard fruit layered with fresh herbs, white pepper, smoke and a distinctly flinty/mineral quality. The palate is medium-full to full-bodied, round and textural from the ripe fruit and barrel fermentation, but balanced by high natural acidity that gives the wine freshness and energy. The flavors are intense and savory, with ripe peach and apple moving into herbs, spice, smoke and salty minerals. The finish is very long, dry and distinctly saline, with lingering green apple, spice and flinty minerality. The warm 2018 vintage gives this more generosity and breadth than some vintages, but it remains beautifully balanced. This is Sauvignon Blanc built more like a great white Burgundy than a conventional Sauvignon, with the texture, acidity and structure to develop for years in the bottle.

• Variety: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
• Appellation: Collio DOC
• Wine: Selezione is only made in the best vintages, selected from the finest Sauvignon vineyards and individual barrels in the cellar
• Vineyards: Fruit comes from several hillside vineyards, with the estate favoring its cooler, predominantly east-facing sites
• Important Site: Borgo del Tiglio particularly identifies its east-facing Ruttars vineyard as an ideal Sauvignon site because of its exposure and limestone-rich soils
• Plant Material: An old local Friulian Sauvignon selection, characterized by small, loose bunches and elongated berries; Nicola considers it meaningfully different from modern French clonal Sauvignon
• Soils: Classic Collio soils derived primarily from gray and brown marl, with the Ruttars site particularly rich in limestone
• Exposure: Predominantly east-facing, giving the vines cooler morning light rather than the hotter afternoon sun
• Viticulture: Low-yielding by nature, with Guyot and double-Guyot training; Borgo del Tiglio deliberately keeps Sauvignon yields particularly low
• Harvest: The local Sauvignon selection retains excellent acidity and is resistant to rot, allowing Nicola to harvest relatively late and achieve greater physiological ripeness
• Winemaking: A brief cold skin maceration is possible because of the grape's naturally high acidity, followed by extremely gentle pressing
• Oxidative Handling: The must is deliberately not protected from oxygen before fermentation, a choice Nicola believes improves aromatic refinement and the wine's ability to evolve in bottle
• Fermentation: Fermented in small oak barrels, primarily previously used
• Élevage: Approximately 9–10 months in small French oak barrels, after which only the best individual barrels are selected for the Selezione
• Aging Potential: Exceptional. Nicola describes Sauvignon as perhaps the longest-lived wine Borgo del Tiglio produces, with the youthful white-fruit aromas gradually developing toward more mineral and flinty notes with bottle age
• Food Pairing: Particularly good with lobster, crab and other seafood, but the estate also recommends tomato-based dishes with fresh herbs and aged Pecorino

The Vineyards & Friulian Sauvignon

One of the most interesting things about this wine is that Nicola doesn't view his Sauvignon as simply the Friulian version of French Sauvignon Blanc. The local plant material has evolved through generations of selection in Friuli and is visibly different in the vineyard, with small, loose bunches and elongated berries. More importantly for the wine, it combines naturally high acidity with the ability to reach considerable ripeness, allowing Nicola to harvest later without losing freshness.

Site is equally important. Sauvignon is an aromatic grape, and Nicola believes it performs best on cooler slopes exposed to the clean morning light, which is why Borgo del Tiglio favors east-facing vineyards and has actually removed Sauvignon from warmer southwest-facing sites. The estate considers its east-facing Ruttars parcel particularly well suited to the grape, with limestone-rich soils contributing to the wine's refinement and mineral character.

The Selezione

Like the Chardonnay Selezione, this isn't simply a different label put on the same wine. The individual Sauvignon vineyards and lots are kept separate, fermented and aged in small barrels, and after approximately 9–10 months Nicola tastes through the cellar and selects the most promising barrels from the best vineyards. Only in good vintages is there enough exceptional wine to justify bottling a separate Sauvignon Selezione.

What makes the wine especially compelling is how it changes with age. When young, Nicola describes the Sauvignon as dominated by soft white-fleshed fruit, particularly white peach. As it matures, those primary aromatics gradually give way to flint and mineral notes, while the wine retains its high acidity, salinity and deep finish. Nicola actually considers Sauvignon potentially the most durable white wine he makes, which tells you quite a bit considering the extraordinary longevity of Borgo del Tiglio's other whites.