Roxanich

Mladen Rožanić spent fifteen years travelling the world’s wine regions before returning to his native Istria to make, in his words, unforgettable wines. He settled on twenty-three hectares of terra rossa near Višnjan, iron-red soil over limestone — the kind of ground that led Oz Clarke to suggest Istria might be Merlot’s second home after Bordeaux. Long macerations are followed by thirty-six to forty-eight months in barrel before bottling. Primary fruit is not the aim here; the wines divide opinion by design, and patience is the point.