Miani is the cult estate of Enzo Pontoni in Buttrio, deep in the Colli Orientali del Friuli. Working tiny, old-vine parcels on the region’s classic ponca soils (marl and sandstone), Pontoni built a reputation for microscopic yields, obsessive selection and fiercely site-driven wines that combine Friuli’s natural richness with striking precision. The range is compact—anchored by Friulano, Chardonnay and Sauvignon on the white side, with Merlot and Refosco among the reds—and production is famously small, with most bottles spoken for on release.
Viticulture is painstaking and low-intervention: dense canopy work, severe green harvests, and handpicking parcel by parcel at optimal ripeness rather than by calendar. In the cellar, fruit is handled gently, often fermented and raised in barrique with measured new oak, plus long lees contact for texture and complexity. The goal isn’t overt wood, but depth and detail; élevage length flexes with the vintage and the plot to keep the lines clean and the finish saline.
Miani whites are concentrated yet crystalline: Friulano shows almond, wild herbs, pear and a savoury, stony close; Chardonnay leans into ripe orchard fruit, spice and a Burgundian sense of drive; Sauvignon is layered and textural rather than grassy, closer to stone fruit and fennel than pyrazine bite. The reds are equally serious—supple, dark-fruited Merlot with graphite and tobacco lift; Refosco with its violet, sour-cherry and iron tones shaped by fine, firm tannin.
These are wines that reward patience. While they dazzle young, the best bottles gain harmony and complexity over 5–10 years (and longer in top vintages), developing honeyed, nutty and flinty nuances in the whites and savoury, mineral depth in the reds. For collectors and sommeliers, Miani remains one of Italy’s most sought-after addresses: pure Friuli, distilled—intense, exacting, and unmistakably the work of a single, uncompromising hand.
