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Franco Terpin

Sialis Pinot Grigio 2016

Price: $49.95
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Tasting notes

This is what Pinot Grigio looks like when it comes from 70-year-old vines, ponca soils, and 14 days of skin contact: copper-rose in color, with ripe raspberry, bitter citrus peel, dry herbs, and a long saline finish. It has real tannin structure — rare for the grape — and the 2016 vintage has had years in bottle to integrate and deepen.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
RaspberryBlood OrangeSalineDried Herbs
  • Style: Orange wine; copper-rose; raspberry, bitter citrus, saline mineral finish; 13% ABV; 2016 vintage with significant bottle age
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Pinot Grigio; Sialis single vineyard; 70+ year old vines; organic; ponca (marl-sandstone flysch) soils; south slope of Monte Calvario, San Floriano del Collio
  • Winemaking: Hand harvested; indigenous yeast fermentation; 14-day skin maceration in open oak; 12 months in oak barrique; 3 years in bottle; unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfur
  • Serving: Serve at 54-58F; 20-30 min decant recommended; expect sediment
  • Pairing: Grilled branzino, smoked fish, aged sheep's milk cheese, cured meats, mushroom pasta
  • Similar To: For fans of Gravner, Radikon, or skin-contact Pinot Gris from Alsace who want serious mineral structure

Sialis is Franco Terpin's single-vineyard Pinot Grigio from the Sialis cru on the south-facing slope of Monte Calvario in San Floriano del Collio. The 3-hectare parcel is planted with vines over 70 years old in ponca soils — Eocene-era flysch of layered marl and sandstone that drives the wine's mineral backbone and saline finish. Appellation: IGT Delle Venezie.

Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, then fermented spontaneously with indigenous yeasts on the skins for approximately 14 days in open oak vessels with daily punchdowns. The wine then ages 12 months in oak barriques followed by 3 years in bottle before release. No fining, no filtration, no added sulfur.

The color is antique rose with shades of Venetian red — classic ramato from Pinot Grigio's pink-skinned berries. On the nose: evolved floral notes, bitter citrus pith, ripe raspberry, and a faint herbal undertone. The palate is textured and lightly tannic, with a persistent saline finish and good grip. With 3+ years of bottle age already on this 2016, the wine is drinking in a developed, complex register.

Annual production of Sialis is approximately 2,000 bottles, making it a limited release even by Terpin's small-estate standards.

Works well alongside grilled branzino or roasted sea bream, where the wine's salinity and citrus notes mirror the fish. Also solid with aged cheeses, particularly a semi-firm sheep's milk cheese, or a plate of cured meats. The tannin structure can handle a light pasta with mushrooms or smoked fish.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Medium Body
Grapes:, Pinot Grigio
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2016
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Italy
Region:, Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Appellation:, IGT Delle Venezie
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


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If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Franco Terpin

Franco Terpin is based in the hamlet of Valerisce, in San Floriano del Collio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, a few hundred meters from the Slovenian border. He and his wife Daniela established the winery in 1994, and today their daughters Sara and Valentina also work the estate. The family had farmed the land in polyculture before dedicating it fully to viticulture in the 1990s. The estate covers approximately 10 to 12 hectares, split between the Italian and Slovenian sides of the border, with key parcels on the slopes of Monte Calvario near the Isonzo River at around 150 meters elevation.

All vineyards are farmed organically, with a gradual move toward biodynamic practices. No synthetic chemicals are used in the vineyard. Terpin favors low yields, spontaneous cover crops, and biological diversity in the soil. The Sialis cru is a 3-hectare parcel on the south slope of Monte Calvario, planted with vines over 70 years old in ponca soils.

In the cellar, all fermentations are spontaneous with indigenous yeasts. Whites and orange wines undergo skin maceration, ranging from 3 days for the entry-level Quinto Quarto line to 14 days for Sialis. Aging takes place in a combination of oak barriques, Slavonian oak barrels, and stainless steel depending on the wine, followed by additional bottle aging before release. Nothing is fined or filtered, and no sulfur is added. Total annual production is around 20,000 bottles across all wines, with Sialis limited to approximately 2,000 bottles per vintage.

Wine region

Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy

Collio — formally Collio Goriziano DOC — occupies roughly 1,300 hectares of northeast Italy in the province of Gorizia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, running along the Slovenian border. Vineyards sit between 100 and 300 meters elevation on south-facing hillsides. The climate is shaped by two competing forces: cold air descending from the Julian Alps to the north, and warm, humid air arriving from the Adriatic to the south. The result is warm days, cool nights, and significant diurnal temperature swings during the growing season.

The defining soil of Collio is ponca, a crumbly Eocene-era flysch of alternating marl and sandstone layers formed from ancient seabed uplift. Rich in calcium carbonate and minerals, ponca drains well while retaining enough moisture to sustain vines in dry summers, and it is directly responsible for the mineral tension and salinity that characterize wines from this zone. Key grape varieties include Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, and Pinot Grigio for whites, alongside international varieties including Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The Collio DOC sits alongside IGT Delle Venezie, the appellation under which Franco Terpin's Sialis is classified.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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