Borgo del Tiglio

Friuli, Italy

Nicola Manferrari is a highly regarded winemaker throughout Italy for his ability to find the textural complexity of white varietals from Friuli. His origins are not unlike many other great winemakers, in that he stumbled into his profession later in life. His vocation was as a pharmacist, but he often found himself wandering through the vineyards and showing a more serious interest in winemaking as opposed to his pharmacy job. After his father's passing in 1981 he found himself in charge of 5 hectares of land with 3 under vine, basically by default. Over the past twenty-nine years Nicola's Borgo del Tiglio winery has become a benchmark in the Friulano winemaking culture. His Friulano, Sauvignon, Malvasia and Chardonnay reach optimal ripeness and offer aspects of climate, soil and vine-age that are impossible to replicate in other areas of Friuli, let alone the world.

"Borgo del Tiglio remains one of the reference point producers in Friuli, with a traditionally-styled portfolio that many other winemakers strive to replicate yet seldom do." - Eric Guido, Antonio Galloni's Vinous, Jan/2023

"Looking over my scores, I can't help but notice how consistent they are across vintages and varieties. Results like these are hard to achieve, but not at Borgo del Tiglio. Nicola Manferrari and his family have been working tirelessly since the 1982 vintage to become a benchmark for winemaking in Friuli Venezia Giulia." - Monica Larner, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Aug/2019

Borgo del Tiglio is one of the world’s greatest estates. Proprietor Nicola Manferrari crafts brilliant, chiseled whites built on saline-infused minerality and energy that capture the essence of some of Friuli’s most compelling terroirs... Nicola Manferrari is one of Friuli’s original trailblazers. Along with Mario Schiopetto, Josko Gravner and Silvio Jermann, Manferrari was just one of a handful of producers in the 1980s who had the vision and courage to follow his convictions. Winemakers like Enzo Pontoni and Edi Kante, each in their own way, followed that same spirit. Still, Borgo del Tiglio remains vastly overlooked considering the quality of what goes into the bottle. So much of what is made in Friuli today is essentially commercial, large-production wine with little personality. In that context, Borgo del Tiglio is a towering presence of true excellence and a shining beacon of what is possible in one of Italy’s greatest but often most underachieving appellations.” - Antonio Galloni, Dec/2013

"Those who love white wines from northeast Italy will surely be familiar with the efforts underway at Borgo del Tiglio. Nicola Manferrari is on a strapping tear of late, churning out excellent wines even in the most challenging vintages... These wines are distinguished by their amazing luminosity and their unreal capacity to absorb any nearby source of light and refract it with outstanding, crystalline brilliance. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. If you were to select one word to describe the bouquet, it would be “minerality.” This awkward, vaguely defined, often-denounced, hyperbolic specimen of wine terminology (fully understood by a tiny segment of the wine-speaking population) pretty much hits the nail on the head. And, just like the word “minerality” that can never be taken at face value, there are all kinds of mysterious and hidden dimensions to these wines." - Monica Larner, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Dec/2013