Cota Winery

Cota Vina is a small family winery based in Oklaj, in the rugged hinterland of northern Dalmatia, close to Krka National Park and around 22 kilometres from the Adriatic coast. The Cota family has owned the land for generations, with Petar Cota's great-grandfather originally purchasing the property. Today the estate covers around ten hectares, although only a relatively small portion is planted to vines. The remainder is used for fruit, olives, nuts and vegetables, giving the farm a much broader agricultural identity than a conventional wine estate. The family has been making wine for four generations, but it was only relatively recently that Petar and his brother decided to start bottling and selling their wines commercially. Petar began making wine seriously in 2016, initially producing tiny quantities of different varieties simply to understand what each grape could do in their vineyards.

The vineyards occupy a fascinating position between Mediterranean, continental and mountainous influences. Oklaj lies inland from the Dalmatian coast, with the Dinaric mountains surrounding the vineyards and the Adriatic still close enough to influence the climate. Petar describes dramatic changes in temperature from day to day, particularly around harvest, which can make picking decisions unusually important. The soils are predominantly limestone, clay and rocky terra rossa, giving the vines good drainage while providing the stony conditions favoured by many of Dalmatia's indigenous varieties. The vineyards are relatively small, with the plots used for wines such as Pero J'Dero covering only around 0.7 hectares. This combination of difficult terrain, small parcels and native varieties gives Cota Vina a very strong sense of place.

Farming at Cota Vina is organic, with the family taking a low-input approach that also incorporates elements of permaculture. The vineyards are worked by hand and the focus is firmly on maintaining healthy vines and functioning soil rather than pushing for maximum yields. Harvesting is carried out manually, with the grapes selected carefully in the vineyard. For Pero J'Dero, Petar and his family developed an unusual approach to starting fermentation: they collect small quantities of grapes from different parts of each vineyard several days before the main harvest, using them to create a natural starter culture with the indigenous yeasts present on the fruit. Once fermentation has begun, the remaining grapes are harvested and added to the starter. The family literally treads some of the grapes by foot to get the initial fermentation going, giving the process a distinctly hands-on character.

Pero J'Dero is the wine that perhaps best explains what Cota Vina is about. The name comes from Petar's nickname, Pero, combined with a playful reference to his love of food and what he describes as his hedonistic side. The wine was the first he made commercially and is built around Plavina and Lasina, two relatively obscure indigenous Dalmatian varieties, although later vintages have also included Merlot. Plavina is related to the better-known Plavac Mali but has a fresher balance of acidity and fruit, while Lasina is an especially rare Croatian variety with no known genetic parentage. For the 2020 and 2021 versions, the wine is based around Plavina and Lasina, with short maceration followed by spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel and polyethylene vessels. It is bottled without fining or filtration, with the winery taking a very minimal-intervention approach.

There is a lovely simplicity to the philosophy behind Cota Vina. Petar didn't learn winemaking by following a textbook route or spending years in formal oenology training. Instead, he visited other wineries, asked questions, experimented and learned through making the wines themselves. He describes the process as something he is still learning, which feels appropriate for a producer working with such unusual varieties and a relatively unexplored corner of Dalmatia. The wines are fresh, juicy and highly drinkable rather than heavily extracted or oak-driven, with Pero J'Dero in particular showing the brighter side of Croatian red wine: red and dark berry fruit, lively acidity, soft tannins and a slightly wild, savoury edge. It is a great example of the younger generation of Croatian growers taking old local varieties and treating them with a much lighter, more natural hand.