Kolarič Winery in Plešivica: Pinot Grigio & Amphora Wines

Our final visit in the Croatian wine region of Plešivica, was to the Kolaric Winery, located in the small village of Hrastje under the Japetić Mountain, in the Sveta Jana wine region. We were hosted at the winery by its owner, Franjo Kolarič, who told us the history of his family winery, his current winemaking philosophy, and also tasted us on a number of his wines. 

It's a small winery, producing only about 10,000 cases and Franjo indicated he didn't want to expand, as he wanted the ability to control every aspect of the winemaking process and didn't want to become a more industrial winery. He has bought some new land to plant as a vineyard but hasn't conducted any planting yet as they don't have enough people to work the new land. Franjo is also working on plans for a new winery, to create a vertical cellar, but this is to provide a new cellar for his two children, a son and daughter, ages 3 & 5. I'll note that the winery also has 15 guest rooms.

Around 1898, Franjo's great, great grandfather travelled to the U.S. and never returned to Croatia. And around 1930, his great-grandfsther went to the Finger Lakes region of New York, where he operated a restaurant and hand glove factory. Due to a pandemic, he left New York, headed back to Croatia, but decided to leave his ship when it landed in France. He remained there, working in mines, until his death.

However, his grandfather became involved in wine production, and his father continued in the business. Franjo became involved in the winery when he was 20 years old, and has now seen 25 harvests. He wants to create likable and drinkable wines, as he is "creating the wines for his own soul."  Franjo also said, that "wine must be made with heart." 

Franjo (pictured above) own 8 hecatres on his estate, and also has 15 hectares in a cooperative. More than 50% of his grapes are Pinot Grigio, which is a specialty of the winery. They are probably the only winery in Slavonia which creates eight different wines made from Pinot Grigio including amphora and late harvest wines. Why have they emphasized Pinot Grigio? As a teenager, Franjo tasted a Slovenian Pinot Grigio which impressed him. In 1999, he planted about 3500 vines of Pinot Grigio, and in 2011 when he made his first Pinot Grigio, he won an award for the wine. 

Franjo stated that many famous companies use a brand name for they products, so he chose to use the brand name of Coletti for his wines, which is a translation into Italian of the Kolarič name. His philosophy it to "listen to the customers" as if they don't buy your wine, then you lose. About 60% of their wine production though is sold to restaurants. 

The 2021 Coletti Pinot Grigio is their basic Pinot Grigio and it's also their bestselling wine, with a production of about 40,000 bottles (one-third of their total production). It spends all its time in stainless steel. An easy drinking wine with good acidity, and flavors of lemon and graprefuit. 

The 2019 Grande Pinot Grigio is aged for about two years in large, 8-year-old Slavonian oak barrels. It had a richer and more complex taste, with some minerality, lemon and citrus notes, and a lengthier, pleasing finish. Franjo has ordered more barrels as this wine has been proving popular too.

The NV Francesca Grande Pinot Grigio is a multi-vintage wine, made from the 2019, 2020, and 2021 vintages. Both the 2019 and 2021 vintages saw no oak aging but the 2020 spent about a year in Slavonian oak. They only use the best wines of each vintage to male this blend, of which about 4,000 bottles are made. It too was a wine of complexity, with a strong minerality aspect and bright fruit flavors.  

Of all their wines, I was most impressed with their Amphora wines. The 2019 Coletti Amphora Grigio spent about one year in amphora, has a 13.5% ABV, and only 1,000 bottles were made. With an intense orange color, I was fascinated with this wine, with a clean taste, subtle citrus flavors, more savoriness, fine tannins, and some herbal accents. It had a lengthy, satisfying finish and overall was a delicious wine. Highly recommended! In Croatia, the wine is priced at about 54 Euros. I'll also note that usually their amphora are bottled in ceramic, but due to the pandemic, they couldn't find ceramic so had to bottle this vintage in glass. The 2020 Amphora Grigio, made with the addition of about 15-20% Traminac, also spent about 1.5 years in amphora. It was a lighter and less intense amber wine, with softer tannins. 

Franjo obtained his four amphorae (qvevri) from Georgia, and three of them, each 1200 liters, are buried  as shown above. Each cost him about 15,000 Euros. The fourth amphora, which is only 500 liters, wasn't buried, and you can see it in a photo below, surrounded by fermentation tanks and oak barrels. Franjo is hoping to obtain a 120 year-old amphora from Georgia. 

Franjo showcasing some of the grapes and material from within the amphora. 

The fourth, and smaller, amphora. 

Franjo also makes Pinot Noir and mentioned that "When you can make a good Pinot Noir, then you have become a red wine maker." The 2018 Coletti Pinot Noir, with a 14% ABV, is only made if the grapes are of excellent quality, and they usually make about 5,000 bottles. The wine spent three years in oak, mostly French with a little amount of Slavonian. A pleasing red wine, with nice cherry flavors, hints of vanilla, good acidity, and restrained tannins. The Coletti Sparkling Rosé is also made from 100% Pinot Noir, and has no added dosage. Dry, fresh, crisp with delightful red fruit flavors and a lingering finish.

Our visit to Kolaric Winery continued to confirm my respect for the wines of the Plešivica region. I was most impressed with their Amphora wines, especially glad to see they sourced the amphorae (qvevri) from Georgia.