Region: Vitosvska Castelvecchio – DOC Carso, Italy
Varietal: 100% Vitovska
Tasting Notes: Deep straw-yellow color. Citrus, lime, wet stone, honey and sage-thyme bouquet. Some lanolin and beeswax on the palate with pleasant almond notes and great concentration. Dry, and very mineral. Great potential for development.
Pairing: Thai seafood dishes such as crab laksa pair beautifully with this grape. Thinly sliced octopus drizzled with sudachi (Japanese citrus) as well. If you are craving something richer try Frico from Friuli, a wonderfully simple and satisfying potato and cheese bread that is a regional specialty. I suggest Fragrant Thai-Style Clams in Coconut Broth by David Tanis. The delicate clams and Thai herbs create a perfect medley with this wine!
About: Carso (Kras) is a wine region and DOC in the far southeastern reaches of Italy's most northeastern region, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It sits on the Istrian Peninsula, bordering Slovenia, between the Isonzo river and the city of Trieste. The land here, interspersed by subterranean watercourses, is unique in character and incredibly challenging to cultivate, but offers plentiful rewards for those who try. Fresh, floral red wines and herbaceous white wines are typical of Carso, made from Terrano (part of the Refosco family of grape varieties) and Malvasia respectively.
The region's geology is so distinct that its name, Carso, shares the same etymology as the karst landscape that defines the area – the word karst comes from the German name for the area, Kras. A karst landscape is formed by water carving through rock – in this case limestone. The result is a stony terroir shot through with underground caves and cavities, some of them collapsed, and very little in the way of topsoil – a situation that makes the land very challenging for growers.
Ingenuity has made viticulture possible here, rather than the natural aptitude of the land. Red, iron-rich soil is excavated from the region's caves and laid over top of soil trucked in from Trieste – an expensive labor of love that has been practiced by Carso growers for years. This creates a topsoil for the vines that retains water and contributes sufficient nutrients for grapegrowing, essentially transforming the inhospitable landscape into a balanced terroir.
Vitovska is a rare and ancient greenish-gold variety that is found predominantly in Carso. Its name is of Slovenian origin and small parcels of the variety are still planted in Slovenia today, mostly in the Primorski (the Slovenian Littoral) regions of Kras and Vipavska Dolina (Vipava Valley).
The variety is believed to be a crossing of Prosecco Tondo and Malvasia Bianca Lunga. While it was traditionally used in blends, innovative winemakers are now producing appealing single-varietal Vitovska wines. Vitovska – sometimes referred to in Slovenia as Vitovska Grganja – produces medium-sized, winged, compact bunches of round, juicy berries.
Vitovska produces dry white wines that are medium to full bodied and are typically described as elegant and creamy. The variety has a number of distinctive flavors, including sage, pears and prunes, along with pronounced mineral notes and spice. Good examples of the wine will exhibit a wide range of fruit flavors, such as stonefruit, citrus, apples and cherries, as well as jasmine flowers and smoke.
The Castelvecchio estate extends over a plateau 145 meters above sea level, it is the first karst rise from the Isonzo di Sagrado and opens up to the the Alps to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the south.
The rich landscape provides stunning 360° views which merge with the noble and ancient origins of the town Castelnuovo di Sagrado. The Villa Della Torre in Valsassina-Hofer-Hohenlohe can still be admired as evidence of the long history of the place, together with its suggestive park of cypresses, yews and centuries-old oaks.
The Terraneo family has been carrying out an agricultural, agritourism, historical and cultural development project since 1986, with passion and constant dedication.
The 120 hectares that surround Castelvecchio are part of a natural park of limestone and red earth rich in minerals. This difficult but generous terrain offers the ideal environment for growing grapes. The dry microclimate, always ventilated, with good temperature variations, is helped by the proximity of the sea and the Bora. Local winds make viticulture healthy and guaranteeing an ideal climatic condition for the grapes. Our native vines and olive trees are documented to date back over 500 years. To this date all the peculiarities of the Karst terroir are alive in the vineyars and olive groves of Castelvecchio.