Compared to the 2016 vintage of this dessert wine that I tasted at the same time, the Scubla 2017 Friuli Colli Orientali Verduzzo Friulano Cràtis (in a tall 375-milliliter bottle) offers a slightly richer and more voluptuous bouquet. This wine does share the same distilled sharpness or linearity, however it proceeds with a generous and open-knit bouquet with candied apricot, maple syrup and sweet almond marzipan. In fact, I would pair this wine with some dried almond cookies. The mouthfeel is rich, broad and not as fresh as the 2016. Some 1,400 bottles were made.

Packaged in a tall and thin 375-milliliter bottle in a roughly 1,400-bottle release, the Scubla 2016 Friuli Colli Orientali Verduzzo Friulano Cràtis opens to a beautifully luminous golden-copper color. The bouquet is just terrific, with smoothly integrated aromas and seamless transitions. Candied orange peel is a protagonist, but this special dessert wine also displays butterscotch, caramelized apple, brown sugar and tart lemon drop. The wine skirts at the edges of being heavy but ultimately proves light on its feet. It completes this tricky two step with expert precision. The pairing you're looking for here are Friulian buckwheat cookies called biscotti di granoturco.

Packaged in a 375-milliliter bottle and pouring to a golden-orange color, the 2015 Colli Orientali del Friuli Verduzzo Friulano Cratis brings out lots of Verduzzo intensity. With a pretty candied-almond flavor, this is a beautifully sweet wine that slides like honey over the palate. Although I have to say, the extra sweetness on the close is cloying and heavy. The grapes are air-dried in the wind for three months before fermentation in oak and aging in stainless steel. A mere 2,000 bottles were produced.

The Scubla 2012 Friuli Colli Orientali Verduzzo Friulano Cràtis (375-milliliter) is another delicious dessert wine from Friuli Venezia Giulia. The wine offers a generous bouquet with candied fruit, toasted nut, lemon curd and sweet almond. It is aged in oak for two years. The close is heavy and syrupy.

Sweet and spicy, the 2009 Colli Orientali del Friuli Cratis Verduzzo Friulano is an amber-colored dessert wine with fruit sourced from hillside vineyards with marlstone soils. It feels flat and creamy in the mouth and ultimately shows more cloying sweetness than fresh acidity. The aromatic profile of the wine is pegged to candied fruit and apricot. A spicy note of clove or nutmeg also appears. Drink: 2014-2017. Importer: Vinifera Imports, www.viniferaimports.com