Had these two orange wines over the last two days:
1. Batic Angel GrandeCuvee Rezerva v.o.: Vipavska Dolina/Slovenia (13.5%; Chardonnay/Olaszrizling/Malvazija Istarska) 2009: Med.gold color that gets somewhat darker as it sits in the glass after opening; very strong orangey/honeyed/honeycomb some slight phenolic/VM/resiny very perfumed/aromatic slight tobaccoy/cedary/pungent quite complex beautiful nose; lightly tart slight austere/tannic fairly VM/resiny/phenolic some honeyed/oneycomb/roangey fairly rich/smooth bit earthy/pungent quite complex flavor w/ light tannins; very long/lingering some honeyed/honeycomb/orangey bit earthy light VM/phenolic/resiny quite rich/lush very savory/umami-laden some honeyed/honeycomb/orangey very complex finish w/ little tannins that goes on&on; an absolutely beautiful example of a savory fully mature VM as I've ever seen; should go out another 5-10 yrs is my guess.
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2. Skerk Vitovska IGT: VeneziaGiulia (12%; OliverMcCrumWines/Oakland) SandiSkerk/Prepotto 2016: Deep golden/burnished bronze bit hazy color; fairly phenolic/VM/resiny/earthy some honeyed/honeycomb slight herbal/earthy/Kansas haymow rather fragrant/complex lovely savory nose; quite tart/tangy/bit metallic some VM/phenolic/resiny/earthy some honeyed/honeycomb/roangey lightly tannic/austere fairly complex flavor w/ light tannic bite; very long/lingering rather tart/tangy/metallic bit austere/tannic rather VM/phenolic/resiny/skin-contact light honeycomb/orangey bit herbal/haymow quite savory complex finish w/ some bitey tannins; showing a bit of that honeyed character of a mature VM but still a bit tannic on the palate and needs another 5-10 yrs; no obvious Vitovska character & dominated by the VM winemaking.
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More gerblespitz from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. The Batic was one of the greatest mature VM that I can recall having. What struck me is that the wine got noticibly darker over the first 30 min after I poured it. Never done did see'd that behavior before. It had lost a lot of the austere/somewhat tannic character it originally showed. Of course, it needed to be served at a cool room temperature. It showed a savory/umami character that you find in Rainwater Madeira or Manzanilla Sherry, but w/o the oxidative character. A VM as good as it ever gets & shows how important it is to age these wines.
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2. The wines of SandiSkerk are probably my favorite wines from the Corso North of Trieste. I was first exposed to them at lunch some yrs ago w/ Oliver & SteveEdmunds & fell in love w/ them. We did a visit w/ Sandi some yrs ago at his winery near Prepotto in the Corso, just below the Vodopivec wnry. It's a beautiful hillside vnyd property and from the crush pad you can see the Adriatic shimmering off in the distance. His winemaking is done in his cave in the limestone Corso plateau. There is a small cave going downward into the Corso that has never been explored & naturally cools the wnry from the breeze of cool air it emits. Wines worth tracking down.
Tom