Collio and Colli Orientali del Friuli — the hills on the Slovenian border. Ribolla Gialla is documented in Friulian records from 1289. The skin-contact revival began in the 1990s with Josko Gravner and Stanko Radikon, whose experiments transformed international winemaking.
Ribolla Gialla is Friuli's most historic indigenous white grape variety — documented in the Collio and Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC zones since the 13th century. Its importance to the culinary record is twofold: as a wine it is the regional table white (crisp, citrus-forward, with a distinctive fresh almond note at its freshest), and as a cooking wine it is the traditional liquid for risottos, fish braises, and the curing brines of Friulian salumi. The grape also gave rise to the contemporary skin-contact (orange wine) movement — the Friulian and Slovenian tradition of fermenting white grapes on their skins (macerazione) produces amber wines of remarkable complexity from Ribolla and related varieties.
Young Ribolla Gialla is taut, citrusy, and refreshing — a wine made for the table, not for contemplation. Skin-contact Ribolla is the opposite: amber, tannic, oxidative, with dried apricot and walnut and a mineral, saline depth. Both are correct expressions of the grape — one is summer; the other is autumn.
Conventionally vinified Ribolla: fermented cold in stainless steel without skin contact for 5-7 days — produces a pale straw wine with green-apple and citrus, used immediately (the wine is at its best young). Skin-contact Ribolla: fermented on skins in open clay amphorae (anfore di terracotta) or Georgian qvevri for 30-180 days — produces an amber wine of deep colour and tannin, complex and suitable for aging. The skin-contact method was revived by Josko Gravner and Stanko Radikon in the Collio in the 1980s-90s and is now influential worldwide. The cooking application: young Ribolla's acid and fresh fruit character is the standard Friulian cooking wine, preferred over Pinot Grigio for its more assertive flavour.
The Collio wine zone on the Slovenian border is shared — Slovenian Brda is directly adjacent, and the indigenous varieties (Ribolla/Rebula, Malvasia Istriana) are grown on both sides. The best skin-contact Ribollas are made in quantities of dozens of cases, not thousands — seek producers from the Collio and Colli Orientali specifically.
Using aged skin-contact Ribolla as a cooking wine — the tannins and complexity are too assertive for most cooking applications; the young fresh version is the cooking wine. Confusing Ribolla Gialla with Ribolla Nera (a different, red variety). Drinking skin-contact Ribolla from a standard wine glass — it benefits from a wide-mouthed glass that allows the volatile aromatics to open.
Jancis Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine; Slow Food Editore, Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Cucina