Colonia Caroya IG

The story of Colonia Caroya is Friulian. La Nación dates the first Friulian settlers to 1878, and it calls Isabella their flag grape. In the 1940s and 1950s the town had 38 wineries, according to a 2014 Infonegocios piece. La Caroyense was the giant. At its peak it processed 35 million kilos of grapes and made 16 million litres a year as a cooperative, then went bankrupt in 2000 and was sold at auction. The building copies a cathedral in Udine.

The INV counts Colón department at 104.2 hectares now, and a 2014 piece put Caroya at about 430 hectares, so the area has shrunk a lot. Other names to know are Nanini, known for a frambua rosé, and Terra Camiare, which uses only Córdoba grapes and makes the Indama rosé of Isabella with winemaker Gabriel Campana.

I'd start with an Isabella rosé and a Merlot. Isabella is sweet and perfumed, so I'd go in expecting a regional curiosity first.