Graševina, Pomalo Wine Co. ‘Freškavina’

The description of the word ‘pomalo’ cannot be found in any Croatian dictionary. Literally, pomalo means to take it easy, to relax, no stress, but also slow down, no worries. The true meaning of pomalo is rooted in the coastal and island lifestyle and the general state of mind of the Dalmatians.

Graševina [aka Welschriesling] is the most widely planted white grape in Croatia, and most prominently grown in the Slavonia area near the border of Hungary. You can’t talk about Croatian whites, without talking about Graševina.

The whole point of Pomalo is to take it easy and not take things too seriously – like the name of this wine: Freškavina, loosely translated to ‘freshy wine’. Nothing too technical here. With the gentle expression of native yeast fermentations, Freškavina, exudes the floral aromatics and tropical fruit expression of Welschriesling, with a bright and crispy backbone that makes it super oh-so-refreshing. In a region famous for cured and smoked pork, pair with paprika cured meats [Kulen], fish paprikaš, vegetable stew, and crispy lard cracklings [čvarci].

Embracing the minimal intervention approach in the cellar, hand-harvested grapes were destemmed, a short maceration, then pressed into a stainless-steel tank to undergo spontaneous fermentation. Racked and left for 5 months on the lees. Lightly sulfured and filtered before bottling.