wine review: 2022 Paraschos Sauvignon Riserva JZB Vineyard Collio DOC, Italy

Paraschos, from San Floriano del Collio, in the far north east of Collio, has grown a reputation for producing expressive, bold, skin-fermented wines that don’t hold anything back. Their direct press wines are exceptional too, such as the Paraschos 2022 Sauvignon Riserva. Sourced from a new Cru vineyard in their portfolio near Gradis’ciutta, named JZB for Jazbine that means Giasbana, the small part of the village of San Floriano del Collio where the vineyard is located. They waited for the grapes to achieve perfect maturation at harvest, then their low intervention winemaking took over…allowing spontaneous fermentation on wild yeasts (no commercial yeast in their winery), with two years of aging in large Slovenian oak barrels (10-25hl) on fine lees. Bottled without filtration resulting in a super expressive wine, showing ripe fruits, stone fruits, exotic fruits, citrus zest, herbs, and a touch of chamomile tea. This expression of Sauvignon is pure terroir and highlights the ability they have to make world-class wines across their portfolio. This is an intriguing wine that I plan to follow as it evolves over the next decade and as winemaker Jannis Paraschos fine-tunes working with this impressive new Cru vineyard in their portfolio. Tasted February 2025. 95+ points. Matt Steeves – http://www.quercusvino.ca