In the tiny village of Prepotto, Benjamin and his wife Marisa Zidarich  tend 8ha of vines among the little known but emerging wine region of Carso in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, due south of Gorizia on the road to Trieste, in what was formerly Slovenia.

Here the vines grow on iron-rich red loamy topsoil over pure limestone bedrock, perched at 280 msl west facing, overlooking the Gulf of Trieste. When not licked by the salty sea breezes of the Mediterranean, the exposed yet stunningly beautiful area is battered by the cool, drying Bora wind from the Alps to the north. Extreme viticulture one might think, so occasionally facilitated by irrigation (on the back of a tractor for younger vines) when absolutely necessary.

Unsurprisingly local, autochthonous grape varieties are those that fare best and bring out the character of the terroir: notably Vitovska, Malvasia, Ribolla Gialla and red Teran. Needless to say a few Merlot vines were planted during the fashionable 1990s but now struggle. Sauvignon Blanc makes the whites more international.

Benjamin started farming 1ha of land in 1988, following his father. He doesn’t use chemicals. In 2004 he personally dug a new cantina out of the cool limestone rock, and is still digging!

His flagship wine is a ‘white’ made from the Vitovska grape; in fact it’s more lemon/orange in colour as Benjamin, like an increasing number of his native Slav-turned-Italians, vinify their white grapes as if they were red, extracting colour, flavours and tannins from the skin over a two week fermentation in large slavonian oak barrels, so reducing the amount of sulphur dioxide required to protect the wine (and in theory making them more digestible).

Benjamin adds sulphur prior to bottling but does not clarify nor filter the wines; wines that are released to the market after two years in bottle. The wines are fresh, pure and immensely palatable, especially with food.
David Berry Green, Italian Buyer