Čotar is an organic farm in the western Kras, based in the village of Gorjansko near the sea, working a total of 7.5 hectares across named sites (Pečina, Olarija, Dražna, Dušce, Polje, Kot, Ivanji grad). Planting here often means clearing forest, airing bedrock, and rebuilding soil on a karst landscape — which sets the tone for everything that follows.

The estate farms roughly a 50/50 split of red and white varieties, with dense planting (around 6000 vines/ha), single Guyot training, and deliberately low yields (roughly 3500–4000 kg/ha). Harvest is late (late autumn), with a stated goal of phenolic ripeness rather than just sugar maturity — crucial in a windy, rocky zone where tannin texture can define the final shape of the wines.

In the cellar, the method is consistent and very “Čotar”: from grapes through bottling and ageing, the wines descend deeper and deeper into the cellar (a practical way to avoid heat swings and reduce the need for pumping). Maceration length is not fixed — it’s vintage-dependent, decided by the winemaker rather than by recipe. Fermentations run spontaneously underground in barrels ranging from 200 to 2000 litres, with no selected yeasts. Importantly, the wine rests on its lees without any added sulphur until the first racking/decanting.

Ageing is long and intentionally slow in old, wine-soaked oak: whites a minimum of two years, reds between four and five years before release. The final stance is unapologetic: no filtration, and sediment is not treated as a fault — it’s treated as normal for wines made this way. The result is a house style that prioritizes Kras identity (salt, stone, wind-shaped freshness) and long, stable élevage over quick aromatic impact.