Home Cooking and Organic Wine in the Heart of Goriška Brda

The colourful landscape of Goriška Brda gradually descends from the peaks of the Korada and Sabotin hills through picturesque hills intertwined with curving valleys towards the Friuli plain. The fertile soil of Goriška Brda basks in the rays of the sun for 2900 hours a year, the sea which is only a short distance away, caresses it with warm Mediterranean air and the Julian Alps protects the vineyards against the influence of colder mountain air.

In ancient history, during the Mesozoic, the area of today’s Goriška Brda was under the sea which deposited thick layers of marl and sandstone. When the sea receded, it left behind ground made of Eocene rock - flysch. The flysch also contains many marine fossils, including fossils of the marine gastropods Assilina Medanica, which due to its uniqueness are named after the Medana village. On the surface, this rock disintegrates quickly and turns into fertile, mineral-rich soil, while under the surface the layers alternate and thus the ground has low permeability and is good at retaining moisture. To prevent erosion, the inhabitants of Goriška Brda worked the hills and made the characteristic terraces centuries ago.

Medana - Villa de Mandan – is a very old settlement. It was first mentioned in the historical records in 610. However, the history of winegrowing and winemaking in this area is even older, it dates back to ancient Greece, which had colonies in this region, and later to the age of Romans who supplied the surrounding cities with wine originating here.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the territory of Goriška Brda passed into the hands of the Patriarch of Aquileia and the Counts of Gorizia and the land was worked for them by tenant farmers - koloni. Tenant farmers were obliged to give a large part of their produce to their masters. Later, some of the koloni attained independence and formed their own farms. As the number of such independent farmers was increasing, the resulting competition forced individuals to acquire a more thoughtful approach to winegrowing and winemaking.

Undoubtedly deserving credit for the increasing quality in this industry in Medana were also the Jesuits. In the monastery, which was active until 1773 when the Jesuit order was disbanded, they had their own wine college called Jordanum, which transferred its knowledge and techniques to other winemakers in the village.

During the reign of Maria Theresa and Joseph II, a classification of winegrowing areas in the Habsburg Monarchy was introduced. The area of the then County of Gorizia was divided into ten quality categories depending on the quality of the wine produced in individual villages. Medana was classified in the first category and the winegrowers and winemakers in the village still uphold the high standards today.

The Klinec family has been engaging in winegrowing and winemaking in Medana since 1918.

We, the farmers, have a great responsibility for the future of our planet. With an irrational, unsuitable and greedy approach, the earth that we work would be contaminated, destroyed and turned into a desert. Or we can keep it alive, fertile and prosperous, then hand it over to our children with pride.

At our farm, we are aware of our responsibility and therefore we work around 6 hectares of vineyard in the surrounding of Medana (180 meter of altitude) sustainably - without chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. We fertilize our own vines with a homemade compost and protect them against diseases using means that are harmless to the environment and the people. They are made of:

herbal, vegetable extracts and extracts from seaweed; we also use sour clays, silicates, whey, limited quantities of bluestone and sulphur.

Our vineyards are grassed and covered with bushes and trees. Each vineyard thus lives as an ecosystem that we work in accordance with cosmic cycles. Such a respectful way of farming keeps the earth alive. Our vines live in complete balance, and in turn they produce exceptional fruits each year, which we use to make unique and natural wine.

Our wine is made from grapes that we produce organically in our own vineyards. We pick the grapes manually and transport them to our cellar. Here, the vinification process starts. Grape berries are separated from the stems, placed in vessels together with juice and left for the indigenous yeast to trigger fermentation. The latter is carried out spontaneously, in contact with the grapes and takes from 5 to 30 days.

After maceration, the grapes are pressed and decanted so that the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentation is completed in traditional wooden barrels. Wines on lees - deposits that remain at the bottom of the barrel after the alcoholic fermentation ends - mature for two to three years in traditional barrels made of the wood of acacia, mulberry, wild cherry or oak.

Depending on the volumes, which range from 300 to 2000 litres, the barrels also traditionally have various names: kalater, golber, štartin and baton.

When the wines mature, they are decanted into stainless steel vessels so that they stabilize and clarify. At this point, they are protected with sulphur for the first time. Wine is bottled after a few months of resting, without filtration and with a very low sulphur content. This procedure gives the wine a rich and unique taste, without objectionable additives.