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From a remote plot of forty year old vines, it spends two days on skins and a year in old casks. This is a benchmark for the varietal, combining the grape’s gorgeous aromatics and cleansing acidity with impeccable balance. The finish is salty and whistle clean, a hallmark of the limestone soils of the Kras.
Marko farms about four hectares of vines dotted around the Slovenian Carso, or Kras as they call it here. He speaks with intensity and conviction about this beautiful, yet harsh landscape, where just a few centimetres of red dirt sit between the plants and the ancient plateau of fossilised limestone below. The Kras is a place of contradictions and while his vines sit just a few miles from the Adriatic, it is also not far to the high mountains. The wines benefit from a breeze from the former and the local wind, the bora, which comes from the latter. It is a windy, wild place that provides a daunting landscape for all but the bravest of farmers, but reward comes in the form of the wonderfully distinctive local grapes Malvazija, Vitovska and Teran, which Marko believes are the only varieties that truly thrive here. The use of chemicals is eschewed in favour of organic remedies and techniques and for Marko this responsibility to the land is most important. The various plots are harvested individually, often over several months. They see a brief period of skin contact and rest in old casks until ready to be bottled. They are pure, vibrant wines with a great potential to age.