Just five kilometers north of Trieste, along the Slovenian/Italian border region of the Kras, or “Carso” as it is called in nearby Italy – you’ll find these vineyards. This is Europe’s first cross border wine region – though, with a total planted area of only 600 hectares, we’ll forgive you if you aren’t intimately familiar with it. The ancient oak forests that once dominated the region were pillaged by the Venetians and used to build ships, as well as the city of Venice. The rampant deforestation, coupled with the roaring Burja winds essentially stripped away any viable topsoils – to the extent that the remaining population would have to carry pockets of earth to enclosed parcels, protected by stone walls, in order to grow food and grapes.

The grape here is Vitovska (Vee­toev­shka) – believed to be an ancient cross between Prosecco’s glera grape and malvasia bianca. Harvesting is all done by hand, then destemmed, and macerated for 8 days before pressing. The juice then undergoes a long and slow native fermentation in large oak barrels. A small portion of the juice spends some 10 months on the skins, to be blended back into the finished wine – giving this that perfect kiss of orange wine funk – without going full-native and into the realm of instability. The wine is bottled under traditional soda pop style bottle caps to undergo its fizzy formation, then disgorged once to relieve a little pressure (ever seen a pét nat explode?) and then capped again. 

The wine is a pale straw yellow, with pét nat’s typical cloudiness. Flavors and aromas of star jasmine, pomelo, honeydew melon, prosciutto, and salted plum – with additional nuances of lemon thyme, basil, grapefruit pith, and a crunchy, chalky minerality. There is a lot going on – but this is straight up drinkable, too. Just a fun, thought-provoking wine that should be shared freely and discussed at great length (in a nonchalant, wistfully philosophical sort of way).  We got a little more than last time, but it still won’t be enough… don’t miss out!