Belaj Castle

The Castle Belaj winery was established in 2011 after the Belays, a Russian family, bought the castle Belaj near Pazin, and 11 ha (27 acres) of vineyards in central Istria. The vineyards lie on white soil at the foot of Mount Učka, at 230 m above sea level.

In the beginning, the wine production was intended for family use only, but they soon decided to cooperate with famous Istrian winemakers such as Gianfranco Kozlović and Ivica Matošević, and take their wines to a wider market.

In 2017, the wines of Castle Belaj were presented for the first time at the Vinitaly wine fair in Verona. After that, the youngest member of the family and a great wine lover, Zhan Belaj, took over the Castle Belaj project, and thus began the full production of wine in the cellar of the castle dating back to the 18th century.