The Nickname, the Kvevri & the Momjan Hand

The Markežić family hails from the village of Oskoruš near Momjan, and they have carried the family nickname Kabola for generations. The tradition of winemaking and grape growing with the Kabola family dates back to the late 19th century, with a more recent history beginning in 1981 when Mario Markežić started producing wine for a small family restaurant in Kremenje. Mario was a man of the land — a peasant who worked with his boškarin, the indigenous Istrian ox, tending his vineyards and passing on the values of hard work, patience, and respect for the soil to the next generation.

In 1997, Mario's son Marino Markežić took over the restaurant, transforming it into a wine and gastronomy oasis specialising in truffle dishes. He continued with wine production, partly for the family's own needs and partly for the market. But Marino had bigger dreams. In 2000, he bought the property in Kanedolo, and in 2005 he opened the first modern winery in the Croatian part of Istria — a beautiful, Tuscan-inspired estate that has since become one of the most photographed and visited wineries in the region. The original house on the property dates from 1873, and Marino spent 30 years in the restaurant industry before dedicating himself fully to wine. Today, Marino is the family's winemaker, and his daughter Martina — along with other family members — helps run the estate, tastings, and tours.

The family has always primarily cultivated Muscat Momjanski and Istrian Malvasia, gradually introducing other grape varieties such as Teran, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. A turning point occurred in 2004 when Marino opened the winery, and another in 2009 when Kabola became the first certified Eco winery in Istria — transitioning all 17–20 hectares to organic production. Marino proudly points out that organic wines, produced with zero chemical use, allow for the experience of the true flavour of the variety and terroir. The winery's specialties are certainly red wines, but the white wines — particularly those aged in oak barrels and the legendary Amfora Malvasia — have their own devoted following. This is not industrial winemaking; it is Istrian viticulture as family heritage.

Marino Markežić's winemaking philosophy is rooted in organic purity, ancestral technique, and the belief that the best wine is the one that expresses its terroir without chemical interference. In the cellar — a modern facility that blends seamlessly with the 1873 stone house — grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected before vinification. The white wines are made in two distinct styles: fresh and young for immediate pleasure, and aged and complex for contemplation. The reds are the estate's specialty, crafted with patience and precision in a mix of barriques and large-capacity wooden tanks.

The defining technique is the kvevri. For the Amfora Malvasia, grapes are added to the Georgian clay amphorae buried in the ground — including juice and skins. During the two to three week fermentation period, the cap is punched down by hand. Nitrogen is added to reduce the risk of oxidation. The wine is then left to age on the skins for several months before being pressed and transferred to large oak barrels for another year of ageing. The result is a wine of extraordinary depth, amber-gold colour, and profound texture — dried figs, apricots, honey, and minerals in a glass of ancient wisdom. The kvevri are lined with beeswax, and there are only a handful of artisans in the world who know how to make them.

The Unica — the estate's oak-aged Malvasia — is made in large oak tanks rather than kvevri, creating a wine of floral elegance, caramel, and vanilla that is distinct from the amphora expression. The sparkling RE — which won a silver medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London in 2015 — is made by the traditional method, capturing the freshness and minerality of the white clay soils in a glass of fine bubbles. All wines are made with estate-grown organic grapes, and the only addition is a minimal, practical dose of sulphur when necessary. The result is a portfolio of honest, terroir-driven wines that have found their way onto the wine lists of some of Europe's most prestigious restaurants — Bernard Loiseau in France, Taubenkobel in Austria, Sel Gris in Belgium — all crowned with Gault&Millau toques and Michelin stars.

Kabola is not merely a winery; it is a family dream realised across four generations — the story of how a peasant with a boškarin, whose first bottle in 1891 was made from Momjan Muscat, built the first certified Eco winery in Istria, the first modern winery in Croatian Istria, and one of the most beautiful wine destinations in the country. In an era when Croatian wine was defined by industrial scale, chemical dependence, and the homogenisation of flavour, the Markežić family demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from 20 hectares of white clay and marl, fermented in Georgian kvevri buried in the ground, aged in large oak barrels, and bottled with zero chemical use. It is largely thanks to projects like Kabola that amphora-aged Malvasia, organic Istrian viticulture, and the concept of wine as gastronomy now have a place in the global natural wine conversation. The same village that grandfather Markežić worked with his ox has become, through his descendants' work, a source of some of the most elegant, honest, and terroir-driven wines in Croatia — served in Michelin-starred restaurants from France to Belgium.

The legacy of Kabola is the legacy of the patient hand in Croatian viticulture. Marino is not a typical winery founder: he is a restaurateur who spent 30 years in the kitchen before opening a winery, who transformed his father's family restaurant into a truffle and wine oasis, who built the first modern winery in Croatian Istria in 2005, who made his estate 100% organic in 2009 — the first in the region — who buried Georgian kvevri in the ground to make amphora wine, who believes that zero chemical use allows the true flavour of the variety and terroir to shine, and whose wines are listed at Bernard Loiseau, Taubenkobel, and Sel Gris. He does not chase volume. He does not chase trends. He makes wines that honour 130 years of family tradition — from the 1891 Muscat to the 2008 Eco-certified Malvasia to the Amfora that captivates wine lovers from Singapore to London — and he makes them with the same hard work and patience that defined his grandfather's generation. The minimal sulphur is not a compromise; it is a practical minimum that allows the wine to travel without masking its Momjan soul.

The future of the project is tied to the future of organic viticulture and amphora winemaking on the white clay and marl of northwestern Istria — to the growing recognition that the best wines come not from the biggest cellars but from the most committed guardians of ancient tradition, family values, and the boškarin's path. As the Amfora continues to set the benchmark for kvevri-aged Malvasia in Croatia, as the Unica proves that oak-aged Malvasia can compete with the best white wines of Europe, and as the sparkling RE brings a new generation of celebratory wine lovers to Momjan, the Markežić family remains what they have always intended to be: a family who weaves an incredible tale of wines, inspired by the desire to stand out by being genuine and unique — a grandfather's descendants who trusted the white clay, the kvevri, and the 1891 tradition, and who built something enduring on the hills of Kanedolo. The dream is not finished. It is just beginning to age.