It’s a different climate, different soil and a different view of Žlahtina in Pavlomir, the hinterland of Novi Vinodolski, than in the Vrbnik field on Krk Island, known by this old vine variety. This is why the wine is different. Žlahtina from Pavlomir is as light as the Vrbnik one, but with more freshness and minerality, just wonderful.
And the local wine growing estate is also wonderful, renovated in 1994 by refugees from Vukovar. Vines were cultivated near Bribir by the old Greeks, Romans took over and Croats continued making wine. Tradition was interrupted by phylloxera, a disease that ravaged the vineyards at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th centuries. The Vinodol valley was thus deserted and remained so until the Homeland War. Wine growers and winemakers who were chased away by misfortune from the Danube Region could not be idle so they asked for and received the land to work on. And made a small wine growing-winemaking paradise with a cellar, tasting room and store along with finely cultivated vineyards, while a konoba is nearing its completion.
The vineyard is dominated by Žlahtina which the Vukovar folks, led by Miroslav Palinkaš, returned to the Vinodol valley. Out of 30 hectares of vineyards the variety of Croatian Primorje covers 12.5 of them. There is also Cabernet Sauvignon on 7.5, Chardonnay on 6 and a hectare each of Pinot Blanc, Yellow Muscat, Frankovka and table grapes. They make a separate wine from each variety and two from Frankovka – red and rosé. They also have Graševina, but not in Novi Vinodolski, but in Šarengrad by the Danube River on four hectares.
The cellar is equipped with modern technology and Cabernet Sauvignon aged in wooden barrels. They produce up to 150.000 litres per year. And sell. There are no stocks in the cellar.
The valley has a very good climate. Grace to a cold air current, there are great differences between the day and night in the summer, which gives wine nicer aromas. The vines do not require too much protection as the winds dry them so there isn’t much rot. And if they were to keep some wines, such as Frankovka and Cabernet Sauvignon, and allow them to age a few years, Pavlomir would be spoken of more often and in superlatives.
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