A few years ago I went to visit the legendary Slovenian winemaker Josko Rencel (pronounced Yosko Renchel). I was already in Goriska Brda, the Slovenian part of the Italian Collio, visiting some fascinating young winemakers and both of them told me a visit to old Josko was a must. A true experimenter, they said.
So off I went, deeper into Slovenia, into the Carso (Kras), an area that had seen much bloodshed between Italians and Slovenes during WWI.
I finally found the small town of Dutovlje - along the way I bought some honey, fresh fruits and a delectable peach grappa from local farmers. I drive into a courtyard and park. Pretty soon a stocky man in his sixties, with a giant, taut, round belly, shirtless makes his way down some stairs. He promptly pulls out his wild boar salami (wink), slices it, and proceeds to open about five different bottles of wine. It feels kind of awkward nonetheless. The conversation is a bit halted, him not speaking much Italian. But I'm certainly fascinated by his wild boar salami (wink) and the different offerings of wine. His somewhat laconic, young son joins us. He speaks fairly good English. He tells me the Slovenes feel they have something to learn from the Italians, and even more from the Austrians. I don't quite know whether to take this as a compliment. The history of the area comes up and Josko proudly mentions how more Italians died here than Slovenes. It is a fact, so I am not bothered. Under the misguided leadership of General Cadorna, hundreds of thousands died in trench warfare - Italy's campaign in WWI was a disaster and probably helped the rise of Mussolini. It was interesting for me, having grown up in the US, to be in a place where tens of thousands of my countrymen had died violently, not to mention Slovenes, less than a century before.
Josko makes a wide range of wines, reds and whites. Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malvasia, Teran(Refosco in Italy) - some he makes in a dried grape style. I have a couple of bottles of his that are Amarone type dried grape blends of Teran, Cabernet and Merlot. The most impressive wine I tasted was a dried grape wine made from Malvasia vinified completely dry. It was impressive. It was vibrant and you could tell it would age for along time and become a jewel at some point. I was a bit bothered when he mentioned Veneto Amarone legend Giuseppe Quintarelli and how much dough he got for his wines. Quintarelli is one of those oenological exceptions that is able to get 2 to 300 dollars for one of his bottles. Rencel's prices didn't turn out to be so bad.
Last night I drank his Teran 2004 - 12% alcohol. Red wine made from Refosco grapes, here called Refosk.
It was medium to full bodied, which just goes to show you don't need 15% alcohol to have body. It was tasty and balanced, with good acidity. One problem was the nose. It smelled musty, like wet cement or decomposing leaves, with an undercurrent of rasberry and mint. A total turn-off. It's certainly alive, tasting it is like biting into a wet branch!
I wouldn't buy this wine again, but I'd buy his passito Malvasia again in a second. I would still drink this over a Mondavi...
I found a beautifully written article about Trieste which mentions Rencel, here it is:
http://www.americanwaymag.com/trieste-v ... el-duchi-d
Best regards,
Agostino