Our last visit to the Carso provided with us the opportunity to visit and taste with Edi Kante. In the mid-1980s, Kante tunneled deep into the limestone hillsides to form the basis of his cellar and then trucked in the earth to construct a vineyard, layer by layer, right over the top.
“For us, stone is life, you can taste hints of salt from the sea and minerals from the stone”
The estate is situated in the hills facing the Gulf of Trieste on the Adriatic Sea, whose brisk breezes allow the grapes to retain superior acidity, making these wines great accompaniments to the local seafood.
We arrived after one of Edi’s friends had just delivered his daily catch. Left to his own resources (his wife was out of town that evening), our host proceeded to spear whole squids and grill them over his open hearth.
The fresh local seafood paired beautifully with his flinty, fragrant, Vitovska- the first of many that we would taste that evening.
The highlight of the comprehensive tasting was his unsdisgorged sparkling Vitovska 2001 that he impressively disgorged with a wine glass. Of the many expressions of Vitovska Edi treated us to, we found the 2002 and 2003 vintages of the Vitovska Selezione particularly impressive.
We then ventured down a 60 feet down a spiral staircase carved into the solid rock, to his spectacular state-of-the-art cellars.
Proving his stance on the inferiority of plastic closures, he opened two bottles of 1997 Sauvignon- one that had been sealed with a plastic cork and one that had been stored in a glass water bottle. Upon uncorking the bottle with the plastic stopper, he took one sniff and proceeded to empty the bottle onto the cellar floor. Amazingly the other bottle was perfect…
The visit was a testament to Kante’s simple goal.
“To produce wines with guts, close to tradition, good with food—not painted ladies designed for display”.
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