Čarga

Čarga`s farm is a family farm which labours 15 hectars of vineyards. We take care of the development and progress of our farm. The whole process of wine making, from the grapes to the top quality wine is carefully controlled by ourselves. We also sell the whole of our production by ourselves, at home as well as abroad.

Vineyards
Čarga estate comprises 25 hectares of lands with vineyards extanding over 13 hectares of it and is, judging by its surface, one of bigger farms in the Brda. Our vineyards are sited on the selected positions where marly soil and the Mediterranean sun together with mild Alpine influences provide the best conditions for the growth of vines. The majority of vineyards are set at the height of 180 to 220 m above the sea level. They rise on the terraces with grass growing troughout the rows as we place a lot of importance on organic farming methods. This is tecnically called integrated production.

We grow around 47 000 vines. The yield per hectare is extremely low which benefits high wine quality. For one thing is sure: the loweryield, the better quality of the wine.

It is very important to choose the right vintage time; therefore we start at the time when the grape ripeness is at its optimal level. This means that sugar and acid are at the ideal level. We pick the grapes manually and we also choose bunches carefully which makes more work as we have to go into the same vineyard over and over again.

Cellar
Due to the fact that our cellar offers no less than seventeen different bottlings, we consider the wine making a very demanding process that has to e adapted to individual varaieties.

All white grapes are macerated in order to enhance greater fullness, harmony and a more intensive and subsistant aroma. The so called bâtonnage(lees contact/lees stirring) also contributes to the process. In fact, for few months, the wine is left in contact with dead yeast deposit and often stirred up.

All red wines are kept and aged in big(2000) wooden barrels made of French and Italian oak. These wines are in constant contact with oxygen, the level of fruity aromas is gradually being lost to the benefit of new wine aromas.

In the production of young wine(early-drinking wine) we follow the so called carbon maceration method which is used in the production of Beaujolais-the wine from the French region Burgundy. By this method, the wine retains the full freshness of ripe berries and reminds of the barely finished vintage.

French influence is also very strong in the production of sparkling wine. Donna Regina sparkling wine is produced by the classic Methode Champenoise(The classic Champagne method). The base wine is a blend of Rebula and Chardonnay. The wine is then left in bottles for five years to develop into mature and settled sparkling wine.

Tiny and long-lasting bubbles rising in prolonged columns like necklaces speak for themselves about the quality of our sparkling wine. Special wines, such as Čarvina, are produced by the passito method. The grapes of two varieties, Rebula and Zelenka, autochthonous in the Brda are dried in small wooden crates and pressed six months after the vintage.