Nikolas Juretic

Since 2018 in a small winery in the old town of Cormons I found a way to express my desire to make wine. Wine that is produced with artisanal and traditional methods. The vineyards, family owned, are cultivated with the great help of my parents Robert and Elena.

The parcels are located in Cormons in the “crus” of Montona, Pradis and Bosc di Sot. On the hills of our region the soil is called Ponca or Flysch. The Flysch of Cormons, consisting of sandstone and marl, is rich in limestone. In the vineyard we cultivate respecting the principles of organic agriculture and permaculture. On about 2 hectares we mainly cultivate white indigenous varieties (Tocai Friulano, Malvasia Istriana and Ribolla Gialla) and some red varieties (Merlot, Schioppettino and Refosco). All the vineyards are older than 50 years.

The density of vines per hectare is very low, between 2500 and 3500 vines, that’s why we let the plants grow freely during summer. The canopy is not trimmed and we keep all the leaves to protect the bunches from the sun. The grass is rarely cut to allow the spontaneous herbs to seed and promote the diversity of plants and insects present in our vineyards. All the parcels are close to or bordered by forest, this favors the diversity of plant and animal species present.

Very ripe grapes are harvested around mid- September. The harvest is done manually in boxes, this allows us to bring fresh and carefully selected grapes to the cellar. The grapes are processed whole, without de-stemming and the maceration on the skins is the basis for spontaneous fermentation and the extraction of substances that give my wines a unique character. After the fermentation has started (and some days of maceration), the grapes are pressed and the must is transferred to wooden barrels or concrete tanks. Following a long stay on their lees, the wines are bottled without filtration and with only a minimal addition of sulfites. These simple operations allow my wines to stay alive for a long time in the bottle. Wines that need time to be drunk and understood.