Piquentum Wines, Istria, Croatia

"Piquentum offers the typical aroma of Istrian Malvasia, Teran and Refošk but in a completely sincere way - I believe in wines that need more time and are able to develop nice secondary and tertiary aromas. There have been big changes towards modernity in Istria in all aspects, but 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." - Dimitri Brečević, Winemaker

Originally built in 1928, converted into war shelter in the early 90s, and now a winery, this is a tale of a son of a Frenchwoman and an Istrian father, growing native Croatian grapes in an old Mussolini-era concrete water tank. Born in French Basque Country (Jurançon) in the foothills of the Pyrenees, Dimitri Brečević studied oenology in France and then worked at Domaine de Chevalier in addition to working harvests in Australia, New Zealand, Bordeaux, and Burgundy. In 2004 he decided to invest himself in his father’s homeland of Istria near the town of Buzet.

The name ‘Piquentum’ is the ancient Roman word for the beautiful hilltop town of Buzet.

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 to keep them safe, that is to say, not very much.

The Wines

Fun labels, each dot represents the amount of rainfall in each month of the year between harvests!

Malvasia 2023

This delicious natural white has a light fresh profile, despite the skin contact, there is fresh, citrus notes and white peach with then some savoury notes. The skin contact adds a lovely texture to the wine, finish is long and dry.  A delicious white/light orange for all types of foods, cheeses, spicy foods, fish and white meat.

£26 per bottle

Refosk 2022

100% Refosco del Pendoncolo Verde, rare grape widely planted in Istria.  Full bodied, deep colour, but higher acidity than Refosco from over the border in Friuli which tends to be Refosco del Pendonculo Rosso.  The wine has a similarly deep, dark profile, notes of blackberry, prune, dark chocolate with extra freshness, delicious for meat cooked with black fruits or chocolate.

£30 per bottle

Teran 2022

This wine has the remarkable ability to be incredibly fragrant and coat the inside of the glass like a thick, full bodied wine, while still being a light bodied, low alcohol wine with acidity built for food.  A delicious and fascinating wine which can do almost everything, winter stews or chilled with charcuterie!

£30 per bottle

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Give us a call on 01873856565, drop us an email or click here if you fancy any or all 3 of these!

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