Medium gold color; lime, peach, pear, pepper, clove on the nose; peach, apricot, Meyer lemon, apple on the palate.
Dry; medium body; fresh acidity; minerality on the finish. Fruity, creamy. Medium-plus body. Extended finish. Blend of hand-picked pinot blanco, friulano, and ribolla gialla grapes from vines 20-50 years old. Mostly made in stainless steel tanks. The pinot bianco must (the mixture of some grape juice, stems, seeds and pulp after pressing) ferments in small oak barrels. The juice from gentle pressing and must from the friulan and ribolla gialla grapes ferments in stainless steel. There are only mild oak notes. Aged for up to a year on the lees for depth and complexity. 13.5% ABV
Colio largely is a white wine region in north eastern Italy near the border with Slovenia. Marco Felluga uses the Lion of Saint Mark as its logo, reflecting its founding in the Republic of Venice. The winery is located in Gradisca d’Isonzo, a fortified citadel of the Venetian Republic The vineyards are located in four different areas of the Collio DOC—Farra d’Isonzo, San Floriano del Collio, Oslavia, and Cormòns. All are certified sustainable by VIVA (VIVA Sustainability and Culture is the project of the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea promoting sustainability in the wine sector since 2011).
The name of the wine blend comes from an old watermill (mola) near one of the vineyards. The water flow was so strong at the mill it moved the millstone even when the mill was not milling grain. Local farmers called it crazy (matta). So the name means “crazy watermill.”
The vineyard-winery operation dates to the second half of the 1800s. In the 1930s, Giovanni Felluga moved to Friuli and the Colio region. Marco, the sixth of Giovanni’s seven children, continued in the business and founded the company with his name in 1956. Today, his son, Roberto, represents the fifth generation of winemakers and leads Marco Felluga in Gradisca d’Isonzo and Russiz Superiore in Capriva del Friuli. Alessandro Sandrin and Roberto Felluga are the winemakers.
The website notes: “Three quarters of the winery’s production is white wines, made from both international and local grape varieties. The Marco Felluga line of white wines are kept mostly in stainless steel to ensure freshness, but are also left on the lees to add richness and complexity. They are designed to improve with age for several years and are considered an incredible value given their pedigree and quality.”
Marco Felluga Molamatta Collio Bianco DOC 2015 is crisp, fruity crowd pleaser. Rich in the mouth with impressive depth. An outstanding example of the quality white wines made in the Collio DOC of northeastern Italy. Well worth a swirl. Pair with pasta dishes; shellfish and lean fish; pork; chicken; cured meats. Cheese—mature and hard cheeses. $24-26
U.S. importer Della Terra website, this winery
