Description
Vinarija Križ ‘Plavac Mali White Label’ 2020
On paper the Peljesac Peninsula is a near perfect terroir. Bone dry, with a bedrock of limestone and dolomite covered by iron tainted clay. It sits on the Eastern side of the Adriatic and receives the full exposure of the sea and wind and the Adriatic’s overall cooling influence. The Peljesac is a salty and mineral driven climate. The terroir is mountainous and hard and most vineyards demand manual farming simply due to their intense slopes. Tractors don’t perform well here. The growing season and late summers are hot, but they are balanced by an almost 30 degree diurnal. This terroir is built to deliver structure in what it grows.
The predominant grape in the Peljesac is Plavac Mali and it has heirloom roots. Plavac Mali is the progeny of Tribidrag and Dobricic (Jancis, page 1087), and it is principally grown only in this area of the world. Due to communism and war, viticulture has been local. While this has led to slow marketing and exportation growth of Plavac, it has also allowed for old vineyards to be left to grow and flourish. There are has not been a drive to catch up with new rootstocks, double guyots, and Cabernet Sauvignon et al…
