From the atlas
Cantina di Bertiolo / CABERT
At A Glance
| |
| Type | Cooperative |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Village | Bertiolo, Udine province |
| Region | Friuli-Venezia Giulia |
| Home vineyards | Grave del Friuli |
| Premium appellation | Friuli Colli Orientali DOC |
| Signature grape | Sauvignon Blanc |
| Heritage brand | CABERT |
The Producer
Cantina di Bertiolo started as a cooperative of some of the oldest farming families in the Grave del Friuli, pooling parcels across the gravelly western plain of Friuli-Venezia Giulia when the winery was founded in 1960. Its commercial brand, CABERT, has carried that heritage for decades.
The cooperative operates across three distinct lines. CABERT is the founding range, holding the winery's heritage and commercial volume. Casali Roncali is the premium tier, drawing fruit from Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, a hillier appellation east of the Grave plain, and aimed at single-variety expressions with more concentration and aromatic depth. Villa San Martino occupies the approachable, everyday end: fresh, fruity, and light.
In 2024, the Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc 2023 was ranked third-best white wine in Italy by critic Luca Maroni, scoring 96 points, and took a Gold medal at the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon alongside recognition at Decanter World Wine Awards. For a cooperative historically associated with the flat Grave plain, that ranking placed Bertiolo alongside Collio and Colli Orientali hill estates that have held the prestige position in Friulian white wine for a generation.
Place
Bertiolo sits in Udine province in the western part of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, roughly midway between the Adriatic coast and the foothills of the Dolomites. The Grave del Friuli zone where the cooperative farms is a broad, flat plain built on glacially deposited material: alluvial gravel and stone mixed with chalk and dolomite fragments washed down over millennia from the mountains to the north. The soils drain freely, stress the vines moderately, and hold warmth through the growing season.
The climate runs warm during the day, fed by Adriatic air moving inland, and cools sharply at night as air flows down from the Dolomites. That daily range is the condition that allows aromatic white grapes to accumulate perfume without losing acidity. Sauvignon Blanc is particularly responsive to it: the grape builds intensity during the warm hours and holds freshness through the cold nights.
The Casali Roncali line draws from Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, a separate and geographically distinct appellation to the east where the terrain rises into hillside vineyards. The change in elevation and slope aspect alters ripening and produces white wines with a different profile from the flatter Grave parcels.
Soil And Site
The Grave del Friuli soils beneath the cooperative's vineyards are glacial in origin: layers of river-washed gravel, chalk, and dolomite fragments deposited over thousands of years. The stony, free-draining texture means water moves quickly through the profile, limiting vine vigour and concentrating flavour in the fruit. The mineral content of the dolomite carries into the wines as a faint chalky note on the palate, particularly in whites.
Friuli Colli Orientali, where Casali Roncali fruit originates, sits on different ground: hillside soils that vary between clay-marl and sandstone formations, giving whites from that appellation a fuller body and more grip on the palate than the lighter Grave plain wines.
Story
The cooperative was formed in 1960 by families who had farmed the Grave plain for generations. Pooling land and resources allowed them to bottle and market wine under a shared label, CABERT, rather than selling bulk wine to négociants in Trieste or across the border into Slovenia.
For much of its history, the Grave del Friuli was a volume zone: large yields, commercial pricing, wines sold primarily to local and regional markets. The cooperative kept pace with that model while building the CABERT brand into a recognisable Friulian name.
The creation of the Casali Roncali line marked a deliberate shift in ambition. Rather than expanding within Grave del Friuli, the cooperative positioned its premium wines under the Friuli Colli Orientali DOC, sourcing from a hillside appellation with a different soil type and a stronger critical reputation. The separation was architectural: CABERT would carry the cooperative's everyday range, Casali Roncali would carry its aspirations. The Sauvignon 2023 ranking in 2024 confirmed that the separation had produced results.
Vineyards And Cellar
Grave del Friuli vineyards are farmed on flat or gently undulating ground, with the free-draining gravelly soils limiting irrigation needs and keeping yields moderate by cooperative standards. The stony surface reflects heat upward during ripening, adding warmth to the lower vine canopy.
Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc is cool-fermented, a cellar choice that preserves the grape's characteristic aromatic compounds: the thiols and pyrazines that express as grapefruit, elderflower, and passion fruit in the glass. Cool fermentation slows the process and keeps volatile aromatics in the wine rather than letting them escape with heat.
The Casali Roncali Merlot 2021 goes through maceration followed by oak ageing, producing a wine with more tannin presence and colour depth than a short-skin-contact red. The specific oak type and duration are not confirmed in the sourced material, but the resulting palate is structured and dry with supple tannins, suggesting a medium-term ageing approach rather than extended barrel time.
Wines
Three lines divide the portfolio by appellation, ambition, and price.
CABERT is the founding range and the cooperative's commercial range. Wines here carry the heritage of the Grave del Friuli and the cooperative's 60-year history. Specific bottles and grapes in the current CABERT lineup are not listed in detail in the available sourced material.
Casali Roncali is the premium tier, drawing from Friuli Colli Orientali DOC. Two wines are confirmed:
The Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc is a single-variety white, cool-fermented for aromatic preservation. It shows citrus, grapefruit, bergamot, passion fruit, and elderflower on the nose: a wide, layered aromatic register that reflects both the grape and the Dolomite-cooled nights during ripening. The palate is fresh and direct, with the acidity that keeps the wine from feeling flat despite its aromatic density. The 2023 vintage scored 96 points from Luca Maroni and ranked third among all Italian white wines.
The Casali Roncali Merlot 2021 is a full-bodied red built on dark berry fruit: dark raspberry, blueberry, black cherry, and violet, with spiced background notes. On the palate it is structured, dry, and deep, with tannins that are present but not harsh.
Villa San Martino is the approachable end of the range: fresh, fruity, light, and meant for everyday drinking rather than cellaring.
In The Glass
The Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc opens with a wide aromatic arc: grapefruit and citrus pith in the foreground, then bergamot and elderflower, then a tropical note of passion fruit underneath. Cool fermentation keeps those compounds intact and layered rather than flat or monolithic. In the mouth the wine is dry and fresh, with bright acidity that cuts through the aromatic richness and keeps the finish clean. The Dolomite-cooled nights in the Colli Orientali growing season explain the acidity more than any cellar choice: the grape held it through ripening.
The Casali Roncali Merlot 2021 takes a different direction entirely. The nose is dark and spiced: blueberry, black cherry, and violet over a warmer background of spice. The palate is dry and deep, with more body than is typical of lighter Friulian reds, and tannins that are supple enough to drink now but present enough to hold the wine together over time.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with the Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc. It is the wine that defines what the cooperative has built in Friuli Colli Orientali: cool-fermented Sauvignon, aromatic and fresh, from a hillside appellation with more grip and concentration than the flat Grave plain vineyards would produce. Grapefruit, elderflower, passion fruit on the nose; clean, fresh acidity on the palate; a dry finish that does not trail off. The 96-point Luca Maroni ranking for the 2023 vintage places it objectively among the top Italian whites of its year. It earns that position on aroma and acidity, not on barrel weight or residual sweetness.
Anecdote
When the results of Luca Maroni's 2024 Italian white wine ranking were published, the Casali Roncali Sauvignon Blanc 2023 appeared in third place, scoring 96 points. The wines ahead of it came from some of the most cited addresses in Italian white wine. The wine behind it came from a cooperative based in Bertiolo, a small farming village on the Grave plain in Udine province, whose member families had been selling bulk wine to regional buyers for most of the cooperative's history. The same vintage then took a Gold at the Concours Mondial du Sauvignon and drew recognition at Decanter World Wine Awards. Cooperatives from flat, commercially oriented plains do not often finish in the top three of national rankings built around single-variety whites. The 2023 Sauvignon did, and the label on the bottle still says Bertiolo.
Final Word
Cantina di Bertiolo is a 1960 cooperative from the gravelly Grave del Friuli plain whose Casali Roncali line, drawing from the hillier Friuli Colli Orientali DOC to the east, has produced a Sauvignon Blanc that now ranks among the top Italian white wines by one of the country's most active critics. The CABERT heritage range carries the cooperative's everyday volume; Casali Roncali carries its concentrated best. The Sauvignon Blanc is the right bottle to start with: aromatic, fresh, and placed at the top of a national ranking in 2024.
Sources
- https://www.cabert.it/en/our-wines/
- https://www.terroirwines.us/cantina-di-bertiolo
- https://www.friulioggi.it/bertiolo/sauvignon-friuli-tra-migliori-tre-bianchi-italia-21-novembre-2024/
- https://uncorkedwines.se/produkt/casali-roncali-sauvignon-blanc/
- https://uncorkedwines.se/produkt/casali-roncali-merlot/