And 725 years after the first mention, the rebula has arrived in Plešivica. In Sveta Jana, 600 vines were planted in 2021 by Nikola Mika Rožić and Marijan Jalšovec of R&J Boutique Winery. The first harvest was in 2024, and the maceration in an amphora lasted eight months. The Plešivica Rebula spends at least a year aging in used barrels before being bottled. For how long? As long as it takes, says Marijan.
The first tasting showed that the vintage is excellent. Mika and Marijan have experience with amphorae: from the 2017 harvest, they made an excellent Amphore cuvée from Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Riesling, and Pinot Gris, and from 2020. Amphore riesling. There would be more wines from amphorae if there were more space in the cellar. As it is, the wines are rotated in the single one, and not every vintage yields fruit good enough for a long maceration.
The space issue will soon be resolved. They have purchased the former Klet Jana winery and are renovating it, so they will process this year's harvest there. If the year is good, they may already have more amphora wine as early as 2025. Currently, they have 3.5 hectares of vineyards and bottle about 10,000 bottles a year. They have bought more land for planting, but they are cautious: they don't know who will do the work... Right now, the women are working, and the youngest is 65 years old, said Marijan. Unfortunately, he wasn't joking.
The winery is small, but they have a lot of labels. Only the Sauvignon Blanc as a normal still wine. It has a delicate but distinctive aroma, is full-bodied and long, not overpowering, but very fine. They picked it at six in the morning; by nine, it was already pressed and in cold storage. The base for the 2024 sparkling wine is also being prepared. The Chardonnay is in stainless steel, and the Pinot Noir in a used barrel. It will be used for the white brut and the rosé. The method will be the Champenoise, and after the second fermentation, it will age on its lees for at least two years.
Invictus 2022 is a wine made from 40 percent Riesling and 20 percent each of Chardonnay, Sauvignon, and Pinot Gris. Wine made of each varietal was aged separately in stainless steel. After that they spent six months together in barrel and another year and a half in the bottle. It has a gentle 11.5 percent alcohol and a fairly firm, full-bodied flavor. The 2023 Pinot Gris is also opulent. The grapes were pressed with their stems, fermented in barrel, and aged in wood before being bottled in August 2024. Ten months later, the wine is excellent: full-flavored with pronounced mineral freshness.
In the cellar, there are also two 2022 Chardonnays: Barrel and Unicorn. For the Barrel, the must was settled and chilled to 10 degrees, fermented in a large 1600-liter barrel, and aged in it until August 2023, when it was bottled. The Unicorn 2022 was aged on its fine lees for seven months. We also tasted the refreshing, almost cheerful 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon, whose tannins suggest it can improve with a little more time. If there will be any left, sinceonly 700 bottles were filled. Finally, a 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon was also opened. One of the four remaining. Now there are three...