Valamar Blog

This Friday, as already announced in the post “Istria and an experience“, is reserved for a post on Istria. As the title suggests, today we will give you an insight into one of the many facets of the biggest Adriatic pensinula, the good-wine facet.

When talking about Istria and its vineyards, wine sorts, wine roads…, first we need to mention the favourable geographical position. Istria lies “flattened” towards the sea, spreading southwest and it forms a magnificent terrain for over 6 000 hectares of vineyards. Malvazija and teran are the most famous Istrian wine sorts, whereas Istria is known also for its wine sorts like cabernet sauvignon, refošk, merlot, muškat, chardonnay, pinot…

Istria is famous for its wine roads, to which we will dedicate a separate post, and it is divided into 3 wine regions. These are: the wine-growing hills of Western Istria (Bale, Brtonigla, Buje, Fažana, Grožnjan, Kaštelir-Labinci, Ližnjan, Marcana, Medulin, Novigrad, Porec, Pula, Rovinj, Sv. Lovrec, Umag, Višnjan, Vižinada, Vodnjan, Vrsar), Central Istria (Buzet, Barban, Cerovlje, Gracišce, Kanfanar, Karojba, Lanišce, Lupoglav, Motovun, Oprtalj, Pazin, Sveti Petar u Šumi, Svetvincenat, Tinjan, Žminj) and Eastern Istria (Kršan, Labin, Pican, Raša, Sveta Nedjelja). What influences the variety of wine and its quality most are the sun and the specific qualities of the soil - on the coast it is the “crljenica” (red soil), and in the inland “bijela zemlja” (white soil). The Istrian wines have received numerous recognitions (Matoševi?, Degrassi, Kozlovi?, Coronica, Poletti…), and in this first post on Istrian wines we will briefly present the two most famous and distinguishable Istrian wine sorts.

Malvazija (white, Istrian) – a wine sort that has its roots in the Ancient times, a white wine, golden yellow, harmonic and with light aroma. It goes best with white fish, shellfish, non-fat hors d’oeuvres, white meat dishes, cheese, and is served chilled at the temperature 8 -10 °C.

Teran crni (terrano) – an original wine sort of Istria and the closer Krast area. It is characterised by an intensive, red-ruby colour and strong sourness that together with the tannins bestows it with roundness and a strong, robust and rich taste, at the same time it is extremely harmonic and smooth. Some wine experts believe teran to be therapeutic due to tannin. Teran is usually served with meat dishes and hors d’oeuvres, especially game and prosciutto. It tastes best when served chilled at 18 - 20 °C.

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