TN: My first Slovakian wine

I am sure a post about a wine like this will generate massive interest here and honestly I probably wouldn’t read it if someone else made this post. It’s a totally solid wine however and does a good job of leading me to believe quality wines can be made in Slovakia. It was enthusiastically recommended to me two years ago in Riga, Latvia due to my interest in the wines of Christian Tschida. The guy clearly knew what he was doing as I ended up liking this wine a lot more than Tschida’s Himmel auf Erden Weiss.

This curiously named wine is made from quite a unique range of varieties: Grüner Veltliner, Welschriesling, Devín and Aurelieus. There is a lot going on in the winemaking process here: partial ageing under the flor, partial ageing on the lees, some botrytis and of course some skin maceration. Not strong sales points for me but I am happy I was persuaded to buy it.

The wine has a properly orange color, definitely to the extent to make me a bit worried.

  • NV Strekov 1075 Porta #4 - Slovakia, Južnoslovenská (10.8.2022)
    The nose is something else - something way outside my normal schedule and as such not easy to but into words. There are so many different fruity components that without seeing the color of the wine I couldn’t necessarily nail this as a white wine. The orange peel is there for sure but also melony notes and a cherry note that could make one think of say Gamay. A proper fruit salad, no kidding, but very bright, attractive and exciting. On the palate it totally surprises me with how little there is in the way of tannins or bitterness. It is quite mellow, i.e. not hugely acidic, but without feeling flabby. It has good juiciness to it and the agrume-laden fruit is plentiful and tasty. Quite light on its feet, there is a definite joie de vivre about this wine. While not tannic or markedly bitter it does have a little bit of both and the overall balance is pretty excellent. The finish is ever so slightly mouth-puckering and quite attractive. For such a non-mainstream composition this is a very easy-going and highly drinkable wine. It can be approached as an intellectual exercise but it is also a very well made wine that is a lot of fun!

Posted from CellarTracker

6 Likes

Well, you can drink the same wine over and over and over or go for something new and different. Obviously you chose the latter! I never heard of Aurelius as a grape, so that’s a new one. I’ve had a few Slovakian wines - not many and I don’t think I’ve had any under flor.

Interesting stuff!

1 Like

Well, I actually try to taste new wines all the time (largely buying single bottles too) but admittedly I do have a big France focus and when it’s not French it’s almost always from established European regions so I get what you are saying. Because of the pandemic and very limited traveling it’s been even ”worse” of late due to shopping online and not going to shops and talk with the staff.

Thanks for sharing! I do try to taste new wines all the time as well and this one certainly got my attention.

Cheers!

Zsolt produces great wines indeed [cheers.gif]