Istria picked three weeks early. The new bottle has no alcohol
Agrolaguna is in the heart of harvest at the end of August, with 19 L of rain against 149 last year. Shops already took its first dealcoholised wine; restaurants hesitated.
Istria started harvest two to three weeks early. Josip Barišić, wine director at Agrolaguna in Poreč, told Novi list that used to be unthinkable. By late August they were already in the heart of the pick, including black grapes.
Vižinada’s station tells the heat. Almost three degrees warmer than last year. Fourteen days above 35°C between 1 July and 13 August, against one such day last year. Rain: 19 litres per square metre against 149.
The fruit is healthy. Yields will be smaller, across Croatia, not only Istria. Quality is not the worry. Water is.
Agrolaguna is putting 22 hectares under irrigation this year and 30 next. Every new vineyard gets drip. Rural-development funds cover 40 percent. Barišić says a dry year costs more than the pipes.
The other bottle: the house’s first dealcoholised wines. The white is 75 percent Malvasia with Sauvignon. Shops took them. HORECA hesitated. It is fermented wine, then alcohol stripped through a membrane and a vacuum. Not must. Not juice.
Luka Rossi of Vinistra: Istria took 103 Decanter medals this year, two platinum, 13 gold. The county has contracted a third public irrigation scheme.
Mini-concept: an early pick is weather. The shelf test is a local bottle with the alcohol taken out.
A flavoured can was never wine. This one started as Malvasia, then lost the alcohol.
Remember: 19 litres of rain against 149, and Istria’s first alcohol-free wine is already in shops.
Source: Novi list