Istria has two reputations. The coast — Rovinj, Poreč, the tourist infrastructure of the peninsula’s western edge — is well documented. The interior is another country entirely. Rolling hills the colour of oxidised copper in October, hilltop villages that have not changed in essential character since the Venetian era, and beneath the oak forests of the Motovun valley, one of the world’s most prized fungi.
The Istrian white truffle — Tuber magnatum pico — reaches its peak between October and January. At its finest, it sells for more per gram than gold. The family estates that harvest it do not advertise. You find them through the right introductions, and the right introductions take time to establish. We have them.
A Morning with the Hunters
The hunt begins before dawn. The dogs — typically Lagotto Romagnolo, a breed developed specifically for this work — move through the forest with a focused intelligence that is remarkable to watch. The hunter follows quietly, reading signals that are invisible to everyone else. When a truffle is located, the extraction takes seconds: the dog is rewarded, the earth is carefully replaced, the find is wrapped.
Breakfast follows in the farmhouse kitchen. Eggs scrambled with that morning’s truffles, a local prosciutto aged eighteen months, bread from the wood-fired oven. A glass of Malvazija from the estate’s own vineyards. By 9am you have already had the best meal of the trip.
Motovun and the Ridge Villages
Motovun sits above a valley of fog in the early morning, its medieval walls visible from twenty kilometres away. The village itself takes perhaps forty minutes to explore fully — but the panorama from the ramparts, with the Mirna River below and the Učka mountains in the distance, justifies every step of the climb.
Grožnjan, Oprtalj, Završje — the ridge villages have in recent decades become home to artists and musicians who came for the light and stayed for the quiet. In summer, Grožnjan hosts a jazz and classical music festival of remarkable quality. We include tickets and a private dinner in the village for guests travelling in July.
The Wine Situation
Istrian Malvazija is one of Europe’s most undervalued white wines. Produced from a grape variety found almost nowhere else, at its best it combines the texture of a good Burgundy with an aromatic quality — wild herbs, sea salt, white stone fruit — that is entirely its own. The producers we work with do not export. The only way to drink these wines is to go there.
