Brda, the hilly slopes between the Alps and Gulf of Trieste, you feel the warmth coming from the sea and the cold breeze blowing from the Alps. For today I’ve chosen a winemaker we haven’t yet had the pleasure of introducing. We’re in Neblo at the family Kocjančič, who is producing wines under the name Zanut. They produce various wines, from those refreshing, with primary aroma to those harvested by the end of autumn with overripe bunches and extractive elegance. And such is the case with this Augustus Cabernet Sauvignon, which spent time in oak barrels.

Grapes are exclusively hand-harvested, following destemming and crushing the mash macerates for at least four weeks at temperatures not going above 28 ° Celsius. After gentle pressing, the young wine matures for three months in stainless steel vats and is then racked into new barrique and tonneaux oak barrels for sixteen and a half months. Finally, it is assembled, and after further three months of resting, it is bottled and undergoes a minimum year of bottle ageing before coming to the market.

This results in a deep, ruby red coloured expression of Cabernet Sauvignon with a dense, almost oily texture.

The bouquet is intense, with plum jam, wild strawberry jam, raisins, a note of leather, iodine, black pepper, liquorice, anise, coffee and smoke.

The taste is soft, reasonably warm. Tannins are pronounced and feel velvety with refreshing ripe acidity, leading to an intense and elegant wine of vigorous structure. The wine reminds me of those rustic styles of Amarone.

A bottle costs approximately 40 Eur, and you can get it at Be.Wines, WeVino, and 13vol. You can easily forget about it for the next seven-plus years, for tannins to rounded further up and refine the palate.