Sontacchi Wines
Kutjevo, Croatia (Slavonia)
The Sontacchi family arrived in Kutjevo from Trentino in northern Italy at the end of the 19th century, when Leonardo Sontacchi came east to build the railroad and his son Tomaso took work managing a vineyard estate in 1900. The family has been in the vines ever since — in a town that's been making wine for nearly 800 years.
Today the Stonacchi winery is run by brothers Krunoslav and Antun: Kruno makes the wine, Antun runs the guesthouse above the cellar, right on Graševina Square in the center of town. It's Kutjevo's first boutique winery, and it stays deliberately small — a few hectares on the Venje and Vidim slopes below the mountain, all farmed organically, with production under ten thousand bottles a year.
In a predominately white wine region, Kruno likes to push the edges... Cabernet Franc, skin-contact orange wine aptly named "Super Slav", and blanc-de-noir still wines — modern ideas from this small operation.
In a town of big cellars and bigger tanks, Sontacchi is proof that small, personal, and slightly rebellious still has a place at the table. As they say in Slavonia: Kutjevo is easy to get into... but hard to get out of.
IMPORTED SELECTIONS
Kitokrit (Cabernet Franc)
Sjenomir
Super Slav