Piquentum

My name is Dimitri Brečević and I am a winemaker born in France. I studied enology in Bordeaux, and then decided to come to Istria, where my father was born. 

My mother comes from French small town Jurançon, the region also famous for its white wines, so it is not a surprise that wine has become my love, and my professional orientation as well. After graduation in 2002, I have worked in wineries all over the world (Domaine de Chevalier in France, Canterbury House Winery in New Zealand), and finally, in the 2006, I founded my own winery in Buzet, Istria, Croatia. The wine brand we produce is called: Piquentum (the latin name of Buzet).

Piquentum offers the typical aroma of Istrian Malvasia, Teran, Refošk and Rose, but in a completely sincere way - I believe in wines that need more time and are able to develop nice secondary and tertiary aromas. You have to try to understand the grapes, the terroirs and the consumer, and to find the truth. I want to discover the character of this land.

The entrance into our winery, just below the hill on which Buzet is settled, might look mysterious. In fact, it is an old Italian water cistern made in the 30s. If the door is closed, the temperature is around 10 – 11 ºC throughout the year. For successful fermentation this is too cold so we use a fan that brings some air from the outside to reach 14 ºC.