14 editor-picked estates growing Malvazija in Brda.
Where to taste Malvazija in Brda: the estates that grow it, how the region expresses the grape, and how to book a visit.
Family cellar at Vipolže that began bottling in 1989 with 3,000 bottles and now fills about 60,000. Three tiers run Klasik, Lex and Kolos, plus single-vineyard wines from Kozana and Fojana.
Tip: Ask for the Single Vineyard wines, named after the specific parcels in Kozana and Fojana rather than the grape.
Medana estate running an inn and an organic cellar on the same site since 1918. The wines are long skin-contact whites, among them Ortodox, Quela and a bottling of the local Verduc.
Tip: The kitchen keeps unusual hours: open Monday and Saturday midday, closed Tuesday to Thursday, dinner Friday and Saturday.
Šlovrenc estate where the whites take 7 to 60 days on skins and then two to three years in 225 litre French oak. The Amfora blends Rebula, Malvazija and Sauvignonasse.
Tip: Restaurant and rooms share the estate. Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday from 18:30, with a Saturday lunch service, and booking is required.
Cellar at Gonjače named for the owner's great-grandfather. Matjaž Četrtič began working the family vineyard in 1992 and built the house around Rebula.
Tip: Three ranges sit side by side: Klasična for varietal wines, Época for the skin-contact bottlings including Amber Gris, and Brutus for the sparkling.
Plešivo family farm working nine hectares on both sides of the border, with spontaneous ferments and macerations and a stated focus on Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Tip: The tasting room seats twelve indoors and ten outside, so groups need to call ahead rather than turn up.
Snežatno farm-stay with an organic cellar, a kitchen built on Brda dishes and eight guest rooms named after the grape varieties grown on the property.
Tip: Both the tasting and dinner need booking in advance, and vegetarian or vegan meals can be arranged the same way.
Barbana cellar of twenty years, fully organic, making spontaneous-ferment wines alongside its own cured meats and cheeses. Katja and Matjaž Kramar are both trained painters.
Tip: The artwork can be seen Friday from 16:00, Saturday from 12:00 and Sunday midday to 16:00, and groups over eight need to arrange a slot.
Kozana cellar with organic growing and two guest rooms, looking north across the hills from Gredič to Šmartno. Tastings run at five or ten wines with local snacks.
Tip: Only two double rooms, with a two-night minimum from May to September, so book well before harvest season.
Biljana family cellar keeping whites in stainless steel and reds a year in wood, plus a traditional-method sparkling called Marcus made from Chardonnay.
Tip: The tasting room seats sixty indoors and thirty outside, and the cellar also runs a shop for buying by the bottle.
Former Thurn-Taxis farm at Pristavo, now the Erzetič family's, farming 15 hectares of terraced marl. The Donna Regina traditional-method sparkling has been made since 1994.
Tip: The estate dates its winegrowing to 1767 and leans on the local trio of Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Kozana family cellar working with minimal intervention and no additions beyond a small sulphite dose, in two ranges called Classic and Gmajna.
Tip: Vines are cropped to around a kilogram of fruit per plant, and three tasting formats run from Classic up to Superior.
Tastings at the Štekar family farm above Snežatno, poured with plates built from the kitchen garden, the house chickens and their own cured meats.
Tip: Slots run Thursday to Saturday between 16:00 and 19:00 and have to be booked ahead.
Small room at the Blažič farm on the border at Plešivo, pouring the spontaneously fermented and macerated whites built on Rebula, Sauvignonasse and Malvazija.
Tip: Twelve seats indoors and ten outside, so groups have to call ahead rather than turn up.
Malvazija in its dry Adriatic form from the Gonjače cellar, the same Klasična tier and the same price as the house Rebula.
Tip: The Época version of this wine costs 25 euros and spends time on skins. Taste the 13.50 euro bottling first to hear what maceration changes.