Brett happens

Collio 2009, Friulano, Mario Schiopetto ($25.90, 11450066)
100% Tocai Friulano. Fermented with indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. Aged on the lees for eight months. 13% ABV.
Sour straw, orange blossom, honey, chalk and quartz. The unctuous texture has you thinking the wine will be sweet but, no, it’s actually quite dry. There’s plenty of acidity too, though the extract makes it easy to miss. The fruit is understated, the minerals aren’t. Both are subsumed in a final swell of bitterness and a faint alcoholic burn that fade into blanched almonds and pear. (Buy again? Yes, unless I can score some of Borgo San Daniele‘s peerless bottling. Yo, oenopole!)

Better at table than as an aperitif, it proved a passable match for a herb-scented stew of mussels, cranberry beans and tomatoes. A better pairing for the stew would have been a less dense, bone-dry white (a Pecorino, maybe, or an Assyrtiko). A better pairing for the wine would have been something like tagliolini tossed with prosciutto, cream, Parmesan and poppy seeds.