Beltrame station

Back in 2014 we visited Cristian Beltrame, the owner of Tenuta Beltrame, an upscale winery in Friuli. The vineyards of Beltrame is close to Slovenian border, not far from station Cerviniano. Then already on the go, running from the wine-tasting hall to catch the train to Milan we tasted an amazingly delicious wine of amber color…

I’ll leave it to sommeliers to tell the stories about flavors of toasted jasmine flowers or about charismatic afterglow of blossoming mimosa. Our taste receptors can only distinguish between “sweet”, “sour” and “sour but drinkable” So I will characterize that simply: wine was just amazing.

Fast forward to 2018, on Tenuta Beltrame homepage you can see another Cristian, defender of AC Milan Cristian Zapata. Holder of jersey 17 invested in the enterprise of Cristian Beltrame. Only now I can see the difference between us, chasing a ball on the field during youth years and the professional footballers supporting the business of their friends. Well, my achievements in sport were quite modest, though as a student I played for University team and sometimes faced real professionals on the field. I remember playing against a team with Sergey Shavlo, who would later become the captain of USSR national team. And I remember him gathering unbelievable speed and scoring twice in our goal…An argument we couldn’t dispute.

But let’s get back to our Yellow Road. Ladies and gents, please meet Cristian Beltrame, whom I can recommend as an extraordinarily hospitable and openminded person.

1- The history of creating your favorite white (yellow) wine

In the middle of the DOC Friuli, between the Roman town of Aquileia and the starry shaped fortress of Palmanova, lies the Tenuta Beltrame. The winery, dating back to the 17th century, once belonged to the Counts Antonini, was bought by the Beltrame family in 1991. In 2016 Cristian Zapata, current football player in the Milan Team, bought part of the shares of the winery, giving new upsurge and development prospects to the Company. With an area of 40 hectares of land, 25 of which are devoted to grape growing, the Estate produces high quality wines, very typical of the Friuli area, in the cellars of the ancient Villa. The vine training, made to grow high quality grapes, the arrangement of the winery and the thirty-year experience of Cristian Beltrame in the enological field allow us to obtain great territorial, expressive, refined and long-lived wines.

The Company philosophy is focused on the total respect for Nature while growing the grapes and, in the cellar, we simply wait for the correct ageing of our wines patiently kept in our barrels. Our focus is to obtain fine and elegant wines so, in the cellar, we do the fewer possible operations just to respect what Nature offers us in every single vintage. Our greatest goal is to preserve all the characteristics of our grapes during their transformation into wine. One of the most important characteristics of the grape is the colour and we do our best to extract all the anthocyanins from the skin to transfer them into our wines. Many times our white wines, especially the Friulano (the ex Tocai), have very intense yellow colour and we are very proud of that cause it suggests a great structure of the wine.

In 2018 our reception project will start and this will allow us to restore part of the old Villa creating a B&B with 6 rooms, equipped with all the comforts, in an atmosphere of great charm. These accommodations will be available to all the eno-courious people and to anyone who wants to enjoy a moment of peace and relax.

2- Do you give preference (is it important for you, as for a winemaker) the color of wine?

The colour of a wine is really important. The colour lets you understand the structure of a wine and it is the first impact that a person has with a wine, first the view, than the smell and at last but not least the taste. For me the colour must be fine and elegant but intense and never too light. A white wine with an intensive yellow colour invites you to drink paying attention to what you are drinking while, when you drink a wine with a yellow light colour, you just drink it and that’s it cause you expect nothing from it.

wine cellar Tenuta Beltrame

3- What is your favorite wine? And why?

My favorite wine is the Friulano cause it is the greatest expression of our territory. Is a wine full of personality and reflects the character of the people from Friuli, shy and a little bit aggressive at the beginning but, at the end, gentle, delicate and very deep.

4- Do you have a personal collection of wines (and do you include other producers)?

I have a very large collection of different wines and wineries from all around the world. My favorite wine Countries are Italy and France.

5- What wine producer (from another country) would you recommend for the "Yellow Road"

In Italy I would suggest a Sicilian winery named Azienda Agricola Milazzo with their Maria Costanza Bianco.

In France I would suggest Chateau D’Arlay from the Cotes du Jura

6- If you had an unlimited budget, would you spend it on a bottle of rare wine? And if yes, which one?

I absolutely would buy a bottle of Domain de la Romanée-Conti Romanée Conti Grand Cru, Cote de Nuits, France

7- When will you have wine with a football player on the label?

We are planning to dedicate a label to my business partner but not now. I think we will need a couple of years before producing it.