{"product_id":"2018-kozlovic-santa-lucia-noir-istria-croatia","title":"2017 Kozlovic 'Santa Lucia' Noir, Istria, Croatia","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Kozlović family has been farming wine in northwestern Istria since 1904, working the Vale valley beneath the medieval tower of Momjan through decades of political upheaval: Austro-Hungarian, Italian, Yugoslavian, and finally Croatian, all within living memory. Under Yugoslavia, the cooperative model reduced wine to a commodity, and the family's winemaking voice nearly disappeared with it. When Croatia gained independence in the early 1990s, Gianfranco Kozlović seized the moment and set about rebuilding not just the winery but the idea of what Istrian wine could be. That Istria's own grapes could produce wines worthy of the same attention as neighboring Friuli was, at the time, a hard sell.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Santa Lucia vineyard sits at 240 meters above sea level near the hilltop town of Buje, planted on terra bianca, the white and grey composite of flysch, limestone, and clay that defines Istrian viticulture. The first malvazija vines went in in 1961, but as Gianfranco gained deeper intimacy with the site, he believed specific parcels showed exceptional promise for red varieties. Those parcels gave him the idea for Santa Lucia Noir.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wine is built on teran, the ancient, iron-rich indigenous red of the peninsula, filled out with merlot and cabernet sauvignon from the same vineyard. Kozlović calls it a \"super Istrian,\" a wine that honors local identity while drawing on the structural vocabulary of Bordeaux. After 18 months in barrique and extended bottle rest before release, the 2017 arrives with something settled and resolved about it. Imposing without veering too bulky. Dark fruit, earth, the spice of well-integrated oak, and the characteristic freshness that teran brings even in a warm year.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yes Society","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51341169164584,"sku":"AT18KOZLOVICNOIR750","price":80.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/1794\/6152\/files\/2018Kozlovic_SantaLucia_Noir_Istria_Croatia.jpg?v=1772748719","url":"https:\/\/yes-society.com\/products\/2018-kozlovic-santa-lucia-noir-istria-croatia","provider":"Yes Society","version":"1.0","type":"link"}