Piquentum Malvazija 2019 ORANGE 12.5%

In contrast to the iron rich red soil of Terzolo, Štoka, and Coronica, the grapes for the Malvazija Blanc are planted in the predominately flysch-rich white soil unique to Istria. After 2-3 days on the skins the wine is then fermented in stainless steel, resulting in a wonderfully fine-grained texture and straw yellow colour. Dimitri also purchases some grapes from an old Malvazija vineyard (70 + y.o. vines) owned by an elderly woman. This particular wine has terrific minerality and almost phenolic texture, oozing salt and spice.

Grapes are hand-picked and then slowly pressed into tank without temperature control. Since the winery is a converted concrete water tank, the temperature is a constant 10-11ºC all year long. Whist this is perfect for ageing, it is often too cold to get a native fermentation started. Using fans to draw in the warmer outside air to around 14ºC, all of Dimitri’s wines complete a wild ferment without the use of added yeast, bacteria, enzymes, or any additives. After a long and slow fermentation without stalling fermentation or cold soaks, the wines are bottled unfiltered with just enough sulphur.