Nestled in the hills just a few kilometers from the Italian border, the Slovenian town of Gorjansko is too small to need traffic lights. Branko Cotar, along with his son Vasja, are two of the country's leading winemakers. Cotar started making wine in 1974 to help supply for a restaurant he owned in town. Noting that he was more passionate about wine, he closed his restaurant in 1988 to focus on his winemaking.
His wines reflect characteristics of the limestone soil (Kras in Slovenian, Carso on the Italian side) and the “terra rossa”, the dark red topsoil rich in iron from which they grow and are certified organic. The local white grapes Vitovska and Malvasia Istriana are grown between Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Refosco are also grown, but it is the indigenous Teran that dominates the vineyards. The yield is about 3,500 to 4,000 kg per hectare (about one bottle of wine per plant) and the total annual production of the cellar is around 35,000 bottles.
The vines are maintained and harvested by hand without the use of herbicides or pesticides. No enzyme is used during the maceration process which lasts from four to ten days for whites and from ten to twenty days for reds. The fermentation takes place without cooling or adding sulphites, and only indigenous yeasts are used.
Spontaneous fermentation takes place underground in drums of 200 to 2000 liters. Until its first settling, the wine rests on its lees. It matures in oak barrels that have been used many times (the wood does not leave it’s mark at all) of different sizes, whites for at least two years and reds between four and five years.
Only a small amount of sulphites are added (about 10 mg per liter) just before bottling. Finally, the wines are not filtered as sediments are not considered a defect. The dedication of the Cotars is symbolically inscribed on their labels with the fingerprints of the father (for the reds) and the son (for the whites) as a sign of assurance of quality as well as of their individuality and uniqueness.
