Trip to Europe (Italy-Slovenia) Fall 2012...Olive oil tasting at Starec

(Friday, October 19)

Good morning Trieste, Italy.


The view of the piazza from my balcony was really gorgeous. I had a nice power breakfast in the hotel restaurant.


Our final visit in this trip was Starec, which is a small family-owned olive oil producer outside of Trieste. It was in a small town by rocky mountains.


Robi and Paolo, the sons of the founders hosted our visit.
Starec's olive oil is made in the among the highest altitude and coolest climate olive growing zones in Italy. From 4 ha of olive farm, they produce 2,500 to 3,500L of olive oil from about 4,000 trees.


We tasted three different kinds of olive oils.

2011 Maurino…single varietal, Seeded and pressed. Since 2003, they started making “no seed” oil. It takes about 1 year for this oil to soften and ready. There are about 7 times as much polyphenol in this no-seed oil, compared to regular olive oil which was pressed with the seeds inside.
2011 Bianchera…it’s also single varietal no-seed oil. 2012 blend of different varietals. Just pressed and blended about 2 weeks ago. These were among the best olive oils I’ve tasted. Really rich, yet so smooth, with pure flavors.

They normally sell out all their productions only by reservations, but they let us pick up some from their limited inventory. I picked up a couple of bottles for myself and can't wait to taste them at home.

Trip to Europe (Italy-Slovenia) Fall 2012...First night in Trieste, first beer in Italy

(Thursday, October 18)

It was already in the evening when we finished the very intense tasting at Vodopivec, and we drove all the way to the city of Trieste (Friuli, Italy). We checked in to the hotel right by the famous Piazza Unita d'Italia.


After spending past several days in such countrysides, it was almost cultural shocking to come to the more civilized city. We arrived at night, so Piazza Unita d'Italia was really gorgeous with the light up.


Since we had big lunch, and it was already late, we decided to go to a popular German beer hall in the city.


We ordered different kinds of beer and snacked on casual Italian(?) dishes.

It was fun.

Trip to Europe (Italy-Slovenia) Fall 2012...Tasting at Vodopivec

(Thursday, October 18)

Also in the Carso zone of Gorizia province (Friuli, Italy), we drove to Sgonico commune to visit Vodopivec, which is a very small and very natural winery, run by a Paolo Vodopivec.


Paolo is a very kind and very serious person. He grows grapes and makes wine only by himself. He took us to his 4.5 ha vineyards first and talked about his philosophy. He grows Vitovska grape only, in the very natural manner. Because the terroir of Carso is very severe with the strong wind ("bora") and the shallow soil on the hard red stone. The yield is only about 500g of grapes per vine, and 10,500 bottles/ ha.


Back in the cantina, he took us to his stone-made cellar, which he built several years ago. He practices fermentation in amphora (ancient-style clay vessel) buried in the ground, like Josko Gravner, for some of his wines since 2006. His wines are aged in 2 years in cask.


He first gave us barrel/ amphora samples of the following wines.

2011 Vitovska...2 weeks maceration in wood open-lid Slovenian oak vats.
2011 Vitovska...6 months maceration in amphora.
2011 Vitovska...Experimental batch. Fermented in amphora and will be aged in amphora for 1-2 years.

From the bottles:
2009 Vitvska Classica...Fermented in Slovenian oak bats.
2009 Vitovska Anfora...Fermented in Anfora.
2009 Vitovska...From the specific vineyard, which is the closest to the rocks. Very particular terroir.
2007 Vitovska Anfora
2004 Vitovska...before he started using anfora.
2003 Vitovska

Paolo didn't make 2008 vintage, because he was not happy with the grapes of the year.
It was super educational, and really wonderful.
I would love to taste his 2011 vintages when they are matured!

Trip to Europe (Italy-Slovenia) Fall 2012...Tasting at Azienda Zidarich

(Thursday, October 18)

In the morning, after about 1 hour drive from Cormons, we arrived in Carso zone of Gorizia province (Friuli, Italy). Carso spreads out near the coast line in the northeast Friuli which goes down to the border of Slovenia. Wines from Carso are best known for regional grapes of Vitovuska, Terrano, as well as Malvasia. This area has the particular terroir with the often violent wind called, "bora", and the very hard limestone rock ground, which is covered with a thin layer of clay.


Our first stop was Azienda Agricola Zidarich, in Duino Aurisina. The owner/ winemaker, Benjamin, and his family welcomed our group.


The winery in the hill overlooks the Gulf of Trieste. The view was magnificent.


Benjamin took us to his vineyards. Their vines are trained with Guyot and Alberello methods.


He showed us his new stone fermentation vessel. He said he is going to start experimenting fermentation with it. Then, he took us to the inside of the cantina (winery). From there, we started walking through the newly-made stone-wall cellar. It's an underground cellar, which was carved 5-story down by taking 9 years! It was so impressive.


We reached to the stone-vaulted aging room, and he gave us some barrel samples. At Zidarich, they make mostly Venezia Giulia IGP. Zidarich is also a natural winemaker, who does longer maceration and wines are bottled non-filtre when finished.

2012 Vitovska...the grapes were pressed just 1 week ago. The maceration period was 18 days.
2011 Vitovska...2011 was a much better year than 2012 according to Benjamin.


Back in the house, they treated us to their homemade lunch to go with the wine tasting.
We tasted the following wines.

2010 Vitovska...now bottling.
2009 Vitovska
2010 Malvasia
2010 Prulke...since '96 vintage. SB 60% , Malvasia 20%, Vitovska 20%.
2010 Teran...100% Terrano grape.
2006 Ruje..Merlot 80%, Terrano 20%.
2006 Vitovska Collection...from the best vineyard. Only 1,300 bottles were produced.


The lunch was really nice. We were told that they were going to provide just a "light meal", but it was a well-prepared lunch course! First, we tasted two kinds of local olive oils. Then, we had Valeriana (mache) and pancetta salad, Tagliatelle with fungi, and house-made prosciutto and salami with different cheeses.

Both the wines and foods were excellent especially together. We ended up almost 6 hours at the winery! I never imagined Vitovska could make such a sophisticated age-worthy wine. Great experience.