“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
We wake up and head out for a run. A slow 5km in the warm morning sun. The shade of the trail a relief from the early heat.
Home and I cook breakfast. Fresh eggs taste incredible with local truffle.
We plan the day with no real urgency. A late lunch at a local farm to table, Selo Mekiši.
A possible cellar door visit at Zigante.
The pace here is slow. This is our fourth visit to Grožnjan, the first time we have been here in summer. All four seasons have been different, but each shares the same slow pace.
“Time drips, heavy, slow…”
Albert Camus
We make our way to Zigante Vina. A family winery tracing back four generations.
We try their young, early drinking Malvasia, and aged Malvasia, and their award winning Teran.
The tasting comes with a cheese and meat plate, bread and farm made olive oil.
It is a perfect day. sitting under an ancient mulberry tree with the Istrian mountains rolling into the distance. I don’t want to leave, but lunch is waiting.
We arrive at Selo Mekiši at the same time as a family with two young boys. The setting is among olive trees, and there are plenty of tables. We get the perfect seat, outside in a quiet corner. All is perfect until they sit the family at the very next table.
We order pasta, a local pasta with house made sausage and fettuccine with truffles. Following this, a shared steak with truffles.
The pasta is ok, the steak is fine. The boys are noisy and obnoxious, and their parents seem content for them to annoy all the other diners.
“So I began to think maybe it was true that when you were married and had children it was like being brainwashed, and afterward you went about as numb as a slave in a totalitarian state.”
Sylvia Plath
Home for a rest.
I fall asleep.
A late dinner of cheeses and wine.
We talk the evening away and plan our next few days. Italy and then France.
Tonight’s wine –
2024 Zigante Vina Malvasia (Istria, Croatia)
These Malvasias are excellent summer wines. Bright and acidic, you can drink them all day.
2021 Zigante Vina Teran (Istria, Croatia)
Smells like Merlot, rich, dark fruit. The palate is velvet with great acid and a long finish. Great wine.
“Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.”
John Keats
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