CIVIDALE DEL FRIULI, Italy — You may have sipped a pleasant pinot grigio from Friuli, a region in the far northeast of Italy known for its white wines and more properly called Friuli-Venezia Giulia. But you are less likely to have had a glass of friulano, a more distinguished wine that is worth discovering.

When I was in Friuli last month, I drank friulano like it was my birthright. If a region can have a house wine, it’s friulano. It’s what you will find on tables by the glass, sometimes for as little as 1 euro, or about $1.40. It’s the first choice in homes and restaurants. But it is being overshadowed on the international market by the region’s better-known white wines like pinot grigio. Even the local winemakers are starting to pay less attention to it.