Piquentum, Malvazija

This is a tale of a son of a Frenchwoman and an Istrian father, growing native Croatian grapes and making them in an old Mussolini-era concrete water tank. Born in French Basque Country (Jurançon) in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Dimitri Brecevic studied oenology in France and then worked at Domaine de Chevalier in addition to working harvests in Australia, New Zealand, Bordeaux, and Burgundy.

Finally, in the 2006, he founded his own winery in Buzet, Istria, Croatia. The wine brand they produce is called: Piquentum (the latin name of Buzet). Piquentum offers the typical aroma of Istrian Malvasia, Teran, Refošk and Rose, but in a completely sincere way.

Dimitri believes in wines that need more time and are able to develop nice secondary and tertiary aromas. He says ” You have to try to understand the grapes, the terroirs and the consumer, and to find the truth. I want to discover the character of this land.”

Malvasia grapes are hand-picked and then slowly pressed into tank without temperature control. Since the winery is converted into concrete water tanks, the temperature is a constant 10-11ºC all year long. This is perfect for aging, but this is often too cold to get a native fermentation started. Using fans to draw in the warmer outside air to around 14ºC, the wines complete a wild ferment without the use of added yeast, bacteria, enzymes, or any additives.

After a 2-3 day maceration with skins and spontaneous fermentation, without stalling or cold soaks, 70% of the wine is aged in wood barriques, the rest in stainless steel. Blended and bottled without filtration and a small amount of sulphur. The twelve circles on the bottle label map the annual rainfall in the region over the year the wine was made, starting top left and finishing the month of harvest in the bottom right.