Inland from Poreč the earth between the vines is red as brick. Istria, the largest peninsula in the Adriatic, lies between Trieste and Rijeka, nine tenths of it Croatian, and the Istrians divide it by colour. Red Istria is the west coast, where terra rossa covers the limestone; grey Istria the flysch hills of marl and sandstone around Motovun and Buje; white Istria the stony karst of the north-east. The sea on three sides makes the climate Mediterranean; from the north-east comes the bora, a cold, dry wind whose gusts can top 100 km/h; the vines climb from the coast into the inland hills. The Croatian part has about 3,000 hectares of vines today, a fraction of what grew before phylloxera.
Malvazija, fresh or macerated
More than half of them are Malvazija Istarska, grown here since the Middle Ages. Most of it is made fresh, in steel: acacia blossom, green apple, bitter almond and a salty line. A smaller part is macerated on the skins for weeks or months and comes out amber, like the orange wines of Friuli and Slovenia. The red is Teran, of the Refosco family: deep violet, sharp, tasting of iron, the wine for pršut, the dry-cured ham. Slovenia protects the name for its Karst, so under a 2017 EU regulation Croatian labels may carry it only beside the protected designation of origin Hrvatska Istra. Merlot does well here too.
In the glass
The grapes the region is known for, by sweetness, acidity, tannin and body.
| Grape | Sweetness | Acidity | Tannin | Body |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zinfandel | dry, also sweet | medium(−) to medium | medium(−) to medium | medium to full |
| Merlot | dry | medium(−) to medium | medium(−) to medium(+) | medium to full |
| Chardonnay | dry | medium to high | white, no tannin | medium(−) to full |
| Muscat | dry to luscious | medium(−) to medium | white, no tannin | light to full |
Each grape’s typical range worldwide, not in this region alone, on the WSET tasting grid (Level 3, 2022): dry to luscious, low to high, light to full. The dot before each name shows the colour of a typical bottle. Outlined: a sweet style beside the dry wines.
Venice, Vienna, Rome, Belgrade
Venice took Poreč in 1267 and the other wealthy coastal towns by the mid-14th century, leaving walls and campanili; in 1797 Venetian Istria passed to the Habsburgs, after the First World War the peninsula went to Italy, in 1947 to Yugoslavia, and since 1991 it has been Croatia’s western corner. The cooperative decades produced volume; the renaissance began in the 1990s with small family wineries, and today some 250 wineries work here, more than 120 of them in Vinistra, the growers’ association founded in 1994, which holds its fair in Poreč every May. The forest below Motovun yields white and black truffles, and Slovenian Istria around Koper adds another 1,800 hectares of Refošk and Malvazija.
Sense of scale
3,000 ha Istria has about 21 % of the Swiss vineyard.
One square is all of Switzerland: about 14,350 hectares of vines.
Dalmatia and Zinfandel
Croatia as a whole has about 20,000 hectares of vines, and its other great region is Dalmatia, the home of Plavac Mali. On the Pelješac peninsula the steep Dingač slopes above the sea were placed under Yugoslav state protection in 1961, neighbouring Postup in 1967; their wines are tannic and powerful. DNA analysis at the University of California, Davis showed in the 1990s that Zinfandel and Puglia’s Primitivo are one variety; in 2001 old vines at Kaštel Novi proved to be the same grape, Crljenak Kaštelanski, recorded as Tribidrag as early as the 15th century, and Plavac Mali turned out to be its offspring with Dobričić.
Fuži, truffles, pršut
Serve a fresh Malvazija at 10 to 12 degrees with scampi, grilled fish or fuži, the Istrian pasta, with shaved truffle; a macerated one a little warmer, with sheep’s cheese. Teran wants 15 to 16 degrees and a plate of pršut or a bowl of jota, the bean and sauerkraut stew.