Picolit is a white grape of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, grown mainly in the Colli Orientali hills near the Slovenian border. It makes rare, delicate sweet wines with apricot, honey and acacia notes, and is one of Italy's most prized dessert wines.
Picolit has a natural flaw that makes it famous: many of its flowers fail to set fruit, so each bunch has only a few, small berries. The name is thought to come from piccolo ("small"), after these sparse bunches. Yields are very low, and the wine has always been rare and expensive. In the 18th century Count Fabio Asquini made Picolit well known by selling it to noble courts across Europe. Production fell in the 19th and 20th centuries, but producers in the Colli Orientali kept it alive, and it became a DOCG in 2006.
The hill climate, with cool nights and air coming down from the Julian Alps, helps keep freshness in the sweet wines.
Picolit is usually made from grapes that are left to dry, on the vine or after picking, to concentrate sugar. It is more delicate and less syrupy than many dessert wines. Good examples can age for many years, slowly gaining honey and dried-fruit notes.
Start with a Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit DOCG, usually sold in half bottles. Producers worth knowing include Ronchi di Cialla, Livio Felluga, La Roncaia, Dario Coos, Vigna Petrussa, Marco Sara, Livon and Jermann.
Picolit shares the Friulian hills with Verduzzo, used for the sweet Ramandolo, and with Friulano and Ribolla Gialla. Read our best Friuli wines, the best Italian dessert wines, or browse the grape varieties index.