WTN: the best Muscat I've had, and it's from . . . .

. . . . Slovakia! A friend and erstwhile-poster here, Bill Morgan, brought this over this past Sunday. Before writing up my notes, I had to go to Wikipedia just to figure out how to decipher the label. It so happens that the importer is here in Bloomington (IN), so not sure if it can be found elsewhere. But, at about $13, this is an incredible value.

Bratislava Vinohrady, Muskat Moravsky, Reserve, Malokarpatska (Slovakia) 2007
Wonderfully aromatic nose. On the nose and palate, a personality of grapefruit, ripe pear, grapeskin, orange blossom and hint of nectar, gooseberry, with a note of cabbage on the finish, all underlaid by lots of minerals and steely acidity.Full bodied but light-footed. Such a wonderful combination of ripe aromatic fruit and zippy acidity. The best Muscat I've had. This should drink nicely for the next 5 years. **** [1/15/12]

Maloskarpatska is the region, and "vinohrady" = vineyard. So this is something like the growers coop of the village of Bratislava. Or at least that's my best guess. Whatever the case, if Slovakia can make a white like this, I recommend paying serious attention and seeking out Slovak wines.

Ryan, nice to read positive notes on Slovak wine from oversea. Strange, because almost the totality of the Slovak wines being consumed localy and regular exports are rather exception.

Muškát Moravský is the crossing of Muscat Ottonel x Prachttraube comming from the times of Czechoslovakia (1987), the parents giving the name "MOPR" to the new variety and only in 1993 renamed to "Muškát Moravský" = Moravian Muscat (Moravia actually part of Czech Republic). The growing area today in Czech Republic cca 350 ha (almost the totality in Moravia near the border to Austria) and Slovakia up to 100 ha.

I do not find the name of a producer on your label or - it must be obviously an English translation that is not equivalent to the Slovak name. Otherwise your Wikipedia deciphering is correct - maybe only "the village" of Bratislava - is the capital of Slovakia of about half a million inhabitants

Hello Stanislav. I'm happy to know we have a Slovak member here. Tell the winemakers over there to keep up the good work and export more! As you can tell, I was rather confused by the label. I wondered if Muskat Moravsky was a local variety - thanks for clarifying, and for the thorough explanation of the grape! Me calling the capital of Slovakia a village is due to (1) my ignorance of Slovakia, and (2) a note on the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovak_wine) which explained the phrase "vinohradnica obec _______" as meaning wine from the commune/village of X. I think it meant village/commune in the same way it is used to refer to French regions. As to the winery/producer, yes, I was a bit confused by that. So, perhaps you can help. Here is the label. Is "Hon Rossler" the proprietor, maybe?

muskat_front.jpg

muskat_back.jpg

Fascinating. Thanks for bringing this up. It's about time some out-of-the-way appellations got their due. Interesting, too, the importer. Possibly a tech company out of IU (?) that took payment for a project or service in wine rather than Slovakian cash or other commodity of value in trade, hopefully to the benefit of both parties. A not-so-unusual example of capitalism at work.

Fascinating. Thanks for bringing this up. It's about time some out-of-the-way appellations got their due. Interesting, too, the importer. Possibly a tech company out of IU (?) that took payment for a project or service in wine rather than Slovakian cash or other commodity of value in trade, hopefully to the benefit of both parties. A not-so-unusual example of capitalism at work.

Hadn't heard of this company before (http://www.mnbtech.com/), and don't know if they are associated with the university in any way. They might have figured that, with the diversity of the wine and food scene here, they could find a market for it. Appears to be working for them.

It's about time some out-of-the-way appellations got their due..

Speaking of which, someone gave me a couple of bottles of 2007 Enjingi Zweigelt from Kutjevo in Croatia. I plan to open one this weekend, but does anyone know what I should expect?

Hi Ryan -

Thank you for the the very interesting post... definitely not where I was expecting it to be from!

Anyway, the only Slovak wine that I have ever had was a 2003 Riesling from Château Béla in the Štúrovo Region, which was reminiscent of some Austrian Rieslings that I have tried. Egon Muller was involved closely in the winemaking, which gives you a hint about the quality there. The best part is that it did not cost anywhere near as much as Egon Muller's Scharzhofberg wines cost - definitely worth a try if you come across it. Frederick Wildman used to import Château Béla.

Hi Ryan, now it is much more clear. Solution can be found on the second label - PD BA Vinohrady means "Poľnohospodárske Družstvo Bratislava-Vinohrady" translated as "Agricultural Cooperative Bratislava-Vinohrady" where Vinohrady is the name of one part of Bratislava town and not exactly vineyards... and this PD is in fact the name of the producer.
They doesn´t belong to the top producers in Slovakia, they work on cca 50 hectars vineyards, but only one hectar is of their own... the rest belonging to many private owners. If you see their modest home page, unfortunatelly only in Slovak language, their hard position almost in the middle of a big city, being affraid they will lose gradually all their acreage in "favour" of building companies...you could hardly imagine they can produce the wine that could even be exported with success. http://www.pdvinohrady.sk/ ... and see their price list in € (Cenník)...
And "Hon Rössler" means "Vineyard Rössler" - the single vineyard name...

As for your mentioning the "village" of Bratislava - now I understand how it was meant - my apology for the remark, you were right - maybe the word "municipality" would have been more appropriate

Fascinating. Thanks for bringing this up. It's about time some out-of-the-way appellations got their due. Interesting, too, the importer. Possibly a tech company out of IU (?) that took payment for a project or service in wine rather than Slovakian cash or other commodity of value in trade, hopefully to the benefit of both parties. A not-so-unusual example of capitalism at work.

Hadn't heard of this company before (http://www.mnbtech.com/), and don't know if they are associated with the university in any way. They might have figured that, with the diversity of the wine and food scene here, they could find a market for it. Appears to be working for them.

Well, rats, guys! Wish I had more information for you. Twice a year, one of the local groceries stores here (Sahara Mart) puts on a large wine and beer tasting with each importer/distributer getting a table. I talked to the man who was the local importer for this wine--even had his card for a while but can't find it now. I got the impression that he was a local guy with some kind of connection to Slovakia and this might be the only label that he imports. Sahara Mart carries several of the wines with this label. The other wines were: Rizling Rynsky, Silvan Zeleny, Chardonnay, Muller Thurgau, Cabernet Sauvignon, Frankovka Modra and Blaufrankisch Rose.