Mitja Sirk likes to say he knew he wanted to be a winemaker at just 11 years old. That was the year he began spending time in the cellar of family friend Josko Gravner, who would later gift him an amphora and some grapes—officially (and perhaps mischievously) ushering him into the winemaking world. After plenty of early experiments with orange wine, Mitja shifted course, enrolling in a high school program for viticulture and enology.

Meanwhile, his true education unfolded at La Subida, the Sirk family’s renowned agriturismo and Michelin-starred restaurant. As the house sommelier, Mitja opened bottles from one of Italy’s great cellars night after night, gaining an intimate perspective on the world’s benchmark wine regions—beginning with his own backyard. He also apprenticed widely: Isole e Olena in 2011, Dujac in 2013, Conterno in 2014, and Roulot in 2018. Each experience, Mitja says, reinforced a guiding principle: “A smart and curious wine producer should learn from as many people as possible. Each visit, each dinner, each discussion can open a new way of thinking.”

Mitja’s first harvest came in 2016, and from the start he knew his focus would be singular: tocai friulano. His debut bottling, Mitja Bianco, offered a fresh, stainless-steel expression from vineyards around his hometown of Cormòns. Since then, he has expanded into two single-vineyard cuvées—Ca’ Savorgnan (xxxx) and Meden (xxxx)—each a deeper exploration of friulano’s voice in Friuli’s ponca soils.

Cormons lies in Collio, eastern Friuli, just a mile from the Slovenian border. This is a landscape shaped by confluences: between the Alps and the Adriatic, where Mediterranean warmth meets Alpine freshness and winter moisture, creating ideal conditions for thin-skinned, early-ripening Friulano. The classic ponca soils — layered sandstone and marl that fracture easily and mix with clay subsoils — provide excellent drainage while contributing the texture, concentration, and mineral depth that define the region’s wines.

Mitja prefers the complexity of old vines, and trains his vines in the local cappuccino or doppio capovolto style to ensure physiological ripeness. He farms organically but without certification.

Mitja’s approach is focused on precision, clarity, and minimal intervention. Moving away from the skin-contact style of his early days with Gravner, he now favors gentle pneumatic pressing with long cycles — uncommon in Friuli, but inspired by techniques he learned in Burgundy — followed by a firmer final press to balance the natural bitterness and lower acidity of Friulano. The juice is chilled overnight to settle heavy lees, then fermented with temperature control using native yeasts. Wines complete malolactic fermentation, rest on fine lees with light bâtonnage, and remain unracked until the summer following harvest, allowing a naturally protective, slightly reductive élevage that minimizes sulfur use. Since the 2024 vintage, Mitja no longer filters, and his single-vineyard wines receive extended bottle aging before release. Free sulfur levels are typically 20–25 mg/L.