TCN's Peter Ellis gives us the story on 2017's edition of Vinistra this May.
Wednesday night was the World of Malvasia awards ceremony at Laguna Porec's 4* Horel Parentium. This is part of the major Vinistra wine exhibition, otherwise held at the iconic Zatika Sports Hall in Porec each year. Vinistra is not just a wine exhibition, it also encompasses workshops on viniculture, as well as the judging of olive oils and rakijas. It has a very enjoyable gourmet element with specialist food presenations over the three days.
The World of Malvasia is the specialist separate wine competition devoted to the eponymous wine from producers from all over Europe. They key note speaker on Thursday night, as well as one of the judges, was the well known UK wine writer, Oz Clarke, who is also presenting a workshop on Friday entitled ''Masterclass on the faces of Teran''.
During his speech, he commented on the enormous improvement in the quality of Istrian Malvasia over the last ten years. He mentioned another judge at a major London wine competition referring to it as ''the most refreshing wine I've had all week''.
The awards themselves were presented by Walter Flego, the Istrian Consul and the full list can be found by clicking here (the first part covers the results for the main Vinistra competition, Malvasia's importance can be seen for its having its own dedicated competition).
Whilst Marko Fakin, usually known for his Terans, got top marks, the gold medals and high points were also notable for going to several other less well known small producers this year, as well as Italian and Slovenian growers. Although these were the World of Malvasia awards, time was also found for awards for rakijas and olive oils, many for single varietals.
The ceremony concluded with an excellent party in another room at the Parentium with many of the winning wines and a huge variety of first class food for which the Parentium is well known. All this was amplified by the wonderful view from the room looking out over the sunset on the Adriatic.
It is worth mentioning that the terrace down by the trees is where this hotel hosts wine dinners during the summer months, each for a single wine maker and matching a different one of their wines to each course - a touch which has proven to bring such success over the last three years.
