2019 Tiare Sauvignon Blanc Collio Italy 750 ml

Northern Italy’s Friuli region makes some of the greatest white wines in the world—and when they had their own earth-shattering “Judgment of Paris” moment in 2014, it was Tiare’s Sauvignon Blanc that took down the titans. 

Tiare marched into the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, the top worldwide competition for Sauvignon Blanc, and took the top spot, besting nearly 500 wines from Sancerre, Bordeaux, New Zealand, and beyond. Winemaker Roberto Snidarcig’s 2019 is a more-than-worthy successor to that giant-toppling bottle—it’s a luminous and complex wine that brought home the estate’s 7th Tre Bicchieri award (Italy’s top honor) in as many years, setting the standard for Italian white wines.

Tiare is young, but they’ve got the accolades and pedigree of a longtime Italian icon. Thanks to Roberto’s expertise and their precious terroir, Tiare’s rise to international acclaim has been meteoric. After Tiare beat the best of Sancerre and Bordeaux on their own turf in 2014, then won Gambero Rosso’s Best Emerging Winery award in 2015, Friuli had its new superstar. They haven’t slowed down since, collecting Tre Bicchieri awards with walk-in-the-park effortlessness, most recently for this 2019. 

The estate consists of just 30 acres of vineyard land that enjoy Collio’s unique position between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps, which are just 35 or 40 miles apart. The two influences make beautiful aromatic wines with driven minerality and salinity from grapes planted in ponca—Friuli’s unique combination of brittle fossil-laden marl and sandstone. These soils evoke texture and vibrancy in the glass, a pure liveliness preserved by aging in stainless steel tanks.

The 2019 Tiare competes with the world’s best. Our advice: Get more than you think you’ll need.