In the village of Marčenegla in northern Istria, about a 15-minute drive from Buzet, Nevio and Paolo Agapito run a production focused on old and rare indigenous varieties. The vineyards sit on the hilly terrain surrounding Lake Butoniga, and the family practices organic farming, following the philosophy that wine is made in the vineyard and merely nurtured in the cellar. A distinctive feature of their estate is the preservation of old family plantings established at the end of the 19th century, which still yield fruit today.
The vineyards cover a total of 2.7 hectares scattered across several sites, with a marked difference in elevation ranging from 42 up to 360 meters. Annual production runs between 7,000 and 10,000 liters of wine, and all the fruit comes exclusively from the estate’s own plantings.
The World’s First Duranija and the Cellar’s Technology
The winery’s range is remarkably broad for such limited production. Among white varieties they grow Malvazija Istarska (Istrian malvasia), duranija, trbljan and muškat žuti (yellow muscat), while the reds include Teran, borgonja, hrvatica, likant and muškat ruža. Paolo Agapito became the first winemaker in the world to bottle the rare duranija variety, and among the reds their borgonja stands out.
In the cellar, different techniques are applied depending on the wine type. All the white wines undergo cryo-maceration to draw out the maximum aromatic potential. The reds, on the other hand, require a longer time before release, aging for a minimum of three years in wooden barrels. Visits to the winery and tastings of these rare Istrian varieties are possible at the family estate in Marčenegla.
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