Wobbling Winos: Day 19 - A day in Motovun

Day 19. Exploring Motovun, the wine and truffle capital of Istria

The sun was out as we set off to Fakin Winery 2 km down the road from Motovun. The young innovative winemaker Marko Fakin spent two hours taking us through his various wines. His main varietals are Malvazija and Tenat. We tasted 5 Malvazijas; two were his top unwooded wines, one was a blend that he uses as a house wine in his restaurant in Motovun, one was a blend that he sells unbottled to people in the community and the last one was wooded in acacia barrels.

The Malvazija grown in Istria is different to those found in Greece, Italy and Spain and has melon and gooseberries on the nose.

We then tasted 3 Terans which were all very good. The third one we tasted was still in the tank. He made this wine late in the season; he put the grapes stalks and all into a plastic container, sealed it and then forgot about it. About 5 months later he opened it and it was full of hydrogen sulphide. His father told him to throw it away, but he decided to add a little sulphur and wait. He removed the stems after 8 months and left the skins. After a year he transferred the wine to old oak barrels for a year before bottling it. As an afterthought he entered the wine into the Istrian wine show and won the medal for best wine on the show. He is very proud of this wine, B&M, which he says he discovered by accident.

Marko, who is only 26, is passionate about his winemaking which he started in 2009 when he moved back to the farm. He spent 2 years in Rijeka studying Economics, but decided that city life was not for him. He is adamant that he wants to conserve the legacy that his forefathers left him through the farm, but is also forward thinking and ready to take risks in order to produce excellent wines. The family have continued to make prsut in the Istrian way using a secret family recipe handed down from generation to generation.

The winery is modest and unpretentious; his wines prove that it is not necessary to have a state of the art operation to produce award winning wines. Fakin Wines is a family concern, while Marko makes and markets the wines, his father and brother do the viticulture.

Marko presented us with a bottle of his B&M Teran and a package of prsut and pancetta for our dinner.

It was refreshing to spend time with this passionate, talented winemaker and we were very privileged to meet him. He was exceptionally generous, and we felt quite humbled by the experience.

We certainly enjoyed our dinner of pasta, prsut and Teran. The wine was the best we have had in Croatia (WWS 9) - what a treat.