The 2009 Friuli Colli Orientali Pignolo opens to a fragrant and floral bouquet with pressed rose petal, wild berry and cassis. On the nose, the wine appears much younger than it actually is. The quality of the fruit is vibrant and youthful. In the mouth, this Pignolo offers grit and determination with fine tannins and a medium build. It closes with smooth layers of richness and dark fruity intensity.

The 2007 Pignolo, on the other hand, is totally impressive. It is a huge wine that builds in the glass, with waves of sweet, perfumed fruit that emerge over time. This shows more than enough inner sweetness and depth to stand up to the tannins. Scents of grilled herbs, licorice, new leather and rosemary add depth and complexity to the dark fruit. This is a gorgeous wine from start to finish, all it needs is further time in bottle. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2022. Davide Moschioni makes some of the richest reds in Friuli. Importer: Vinifera Imports, Ronkonkoma, NY; tel. (631) 467-5907

The 2006 Pignolo reveals an enticing bouquet of roasted coffee beans, leather, spices, blackberry jam, smoke and minerals. Moschioni’s 2006 Pignolo has everything; great aromatics, incredible inner perfume, tons of fruit and a level of structure that suggests the wine has a long future ahead of it. When it comes to Pignolo, Moschioni has few peers. This is a magnificent effort, but it will require patience. Anticipated maturity: 2014-2024. This is a compelling set of wines from Davide Moschioni, a small artisan grower who continues to lead the way in demonstrating the level Friuli’s reds can reach. Importer: Vinifera Imports, Ronkonkoma, NY; tel. (631) 467-5907

The estate’s 2004 Pignolo is a massive, powerful and tannic effort packed with dark jammy fruit, tobacco, scorched earth, herbs and new leather flavors. Patience is clearly required and if this wine settles down it may very well merit a higher score. Today it remains somewhat of an enigma. In 2004 5% of the fruit was dried slightly to give this wine additional richness. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019. Michele Moschioni's tiny estate is located in Cividale. An afternoon spent in his cellar is a fascinating education in the purity of expression that Friuli's indigenous red varietals are capable of achieving in the hands of a serious, passionate producer. Moschioni credits Romano Dal Forno as an early inspiration for his wines. He is also very close to Gravner, Damijan and Zidarich, all small artisan producers who craft hand-made, natural wines. Moschioni favors late harvests which can stretch into mid-October or early November. Because fruit often struggles to ripen in this northerly microclimate, in some vintages Moschioni performs a slight drying or appassimento on a portion of his grapes. As Moschioni says, he likes fat wines and these are powerful, intense offerings with dry extract levels that are off the charts. The wines are fermented using only natural yeasts. For his top bottlings - Pignolo, Schiopettino and Rosso Real - Moschioni uses open-top wood fermenters without temperature control. The wines all do malolactic fermentation in French oak (Allier and Tron?ais, roughly 80% new) where they age for about two and a half years. The SO2 levels are minuscule and the wines see no fining or filtration prior to being bottled in accordance with the lunar phases. In short, these wines are among the most natural, unmanipulated wines readers will encounter from anywhere in the world. Consumers who want to understand the potential of indigenous varieties like Pignolo and Schiopettino owe it to themselves to check out the stunning wines of Michele Moschioni. Importer: Vinifera Imports, Ronkonkoma, NY; tel. (631) 467-5907