My niece is married to a Croatian/Montenegrin architect who knows the difference between Slovenia, Slavonia e Slovakia. Having invited them to a Xmas tasting, I pulled out some potentially weirdo wines from that neck of the woods. These are wines I’ve been curious about but have little experience with. All decanted for two hours and served at around 15C (but it’s pretty warm in Sao Paulo now, so temperatures gradually rose in the glasses to about 22C).
2003 Radikon Oslavje IGT Venezia Giulia 1000ml
A blend of 40% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Grigio and 30% Sauvignon Blanc. No SO2 added. Turbid orange. Model airplane glue and acetone aromas. Tannic, chunky mouth feel, healthy acidity, oddly hard to pinpoint a specific fruit in its fruitiness. Has an annoying yeasty finish. Like an alcoholic orange pekoe or herbal infusion.
2003 Radikon Ribolla Gialla IGT Venezia Giulia 1000ml
No SO2 added (bottle says 12mg present). Also from the House of (turbid) Orange. Very similar aromas, more subdued. Less fruity, in fact less everything, otherwise very similar to the Oslavje. More satisfying because it doesn’t have the yeasty finish (only a bit after it warms). People around the table seemed to perceive more differences between the two Radikons, but I got the impression that both spoke more of how they are made than of their respective grape varieties.
2007 Movia Lunar Ribolla Gialla Slovenia Brda 12.5%
Made by allowing whole bunches to ferment, age, and stabilize without intervention. As close to throwing everything-but-the-kitchen-sink into the kitchen sink to ferment. The moon plays a timing role that I’d rather not know about, lest I become a lunatic. Less orange, less turbid, less tannic, but much more lovely. After the Radikons’ reticence, I welcome identifiable aromas, like anis, sage, jasmine, brine, citrus and honey. Good mouth weight. Acidity and sweetness in perfect balance. Sensual and intellectual pleasures also inperfect balance, so put your money on this bona fide honey, kickass and brilliant.
2004 Movia Pinot Nero Slovenia Brda 12.5%
Exotic gunpowder infused sour cherry with cloves and a pleasantly metallic zing. Tastes herbal, with strong acidity and more tannins than your average Bourgogne. Slightly lacking in mid palate, as if a wee dilute. As it warmed, the acidity became stronger than the fruit, preventing me from swooning. But Marcia really loved it. I preferred the Lunar. To each his Movia. But try pronouncing Brda. It was satisfying (perhaps more intellectually than sensually) to drink a pinot in which the grape's peerless terroir channeling ability (yadda yadda) is allowed to express the inner child freely instead of being arm locked into transpiring gobs of oak, cocoa and alcohol.
Though not really set up as a confrontation, the tasting seemed to acquire that character as the evening progressed. The Radikons seemed, well, radical in their Spartan stone-facedness, completely unwilling to kiss ass. Not one iota, and this is a pleasure business, last I heard. In comparison, the Movias seemed almost warm and fuzzy, in a let me take you by the hand and show you a good time way. From this limited sample, I would say that I am a Movia man, who wouldn’t mind sitting in outdoor cafés in Slovakia drinking Slovenian wine aged in Slavonian oak.
As an afterthought, we moved to something completely different, a Uruguayan late harvest wine:
2005 Pisano EtxeOneko Licor de Tannat Uruguay 17.5%
Molasses, coffee, cloves, stewed prunes, tea. Surprisingly strong acidity, a good match for the powerful sweetness. Nice bitter finish. Not complex but well crafted (from a linear programming/maximisation point of view), and a bit of a revelation, considering the paucity of decent southern cone late harvest wines. A winna from down undah.