Usonia Friulano 2021

Tocai Friulano

Sustainable

Cayuga Lake, Finger Lakes, New York State

Alex & Julia made their first Finger Lakes wine in 2018. The husband-and-wife team had worked at wineries in the Burgenland of Austria and the Adelaide Hills of Australia, before moving back home to the Finger Lakes of New York. Seeing likeminded winemakers and growers in the area working to push NY's wine scene forward, they purchased some fruit (and then some land - a vineyard on the west side of Cayuga lake) and their first wine - a non vintage blend - was released in the heart of the covid Pandemic, summer of 2020. 

Hand harvested, destemmed, spontaneously fermented on the skins for roughly two weeks. Aged ⅔ in stainless steel and ⅓ in neutral barrel for 8 months. Sulfured after malolactic and at bottling. Unfined and unfiltered. Fruit from the only planting of Friulano in the Finger Lakes. Fully skin-fermented, it exudes notes of pine resin, green peppercorn, and pineapple. It’s lush and textural, yet fresh and quaffable, a style we frankly didn’t think we’d ever achieve here in our cool climate. A portion of all Tocai Friulano sales will be donated to the Queer Farmer Network.