TN: Hanging @ the Dvorni Wine Bar/Ljubljana..(short/boring)

WINE TALK
1

Tasting At the Dvorni Wine Bar/Ljubljana (10/4/16):

  1. Guerila VipavskaDolina Pinela: Light yellow color; light pleasantly fruity vaguely floral some stony/earthy
    nose; light bodied rather tart/lean pleasantly fruity simple light floral flavor; med.short finish; a
    straightforward pleasantly fruity/simple white.
  1. Colja Branik Valley Zelen: Much like the Pinela but slightly richer and a bit more earthiness; another simple/
    pleasant/mildly fruity white.
  1. Stoka Primoz Kras Vitovska Grganja: Med.yellow color; rather earthy/dusty slightly perfumed light phenolic/
    resiny complex nose; fairly tart bit resiny/phenolic some earthy/dusty/root cellar lightly fragrant/fruity
    Malvasia-like rather tart/austere lightly tannic flavor; a much more serious white than the first two.
  1. Stoka Primoz Kras Teran: Very dark color; rather earthy/dusty some blackberry/black cherry cola fairly
    fragrant Refosk-like nose; fairly tart somewhat rich/lush rather earthy/dusty some black cherry cola/
    boysenberry bit rough/rustic flavor w/ light slightly bitey tannins; on the lighter side of Teran but
    quite good-drinking Refosk-like red.
  1. Rodica Slovenska Istra Refosk: Med.dark color; fairly fragrant/fruity somewhat blackberry/boysenberry/
    black cherry cola slight earthy/root cellar bit simple nose; bit soft/ripe some black cherry cola/boysenberry
    some earthy/dusty flavor w/ light gentle tannins; not a profound Refosk and mostly simple/easy-drinking
    bit rustic Refosk.
  1. Dusan Kristancic GoriskaBrda Sauvignonasse: Med.light gold color; some earthy/floral/Friulano some phenolic/
    resiny/skin-contact somewhat complex nose; fairly tart bit tannic/phenolic/resing lightly floral/Friulano/
    fragrant bit earthy flavor w/ very light/bitey tannins; much like a skin-contact “lite” white w/ low-key
    phenolics; needs food with it.
  1. Miro Simcic Medot GoriskaBrda Rebula: Med.dark golden/burnished bronze color; strongly phenolic/skin-contact/
    resiny/bit cidery rather earthy/dusty/loamy nose w/ little fruit; rather tart/austere/tangy strong phenolic/
    resiny/earthy/dusty slight orangey/orange peel rather interesting/complex flavor w/ some hard/tannic bite;
    slight bit of nutty/oxidative character and drifting into the orange wine category; quite interesting wine
    and needs food with it.

A wee BloddyPulpit:

  1. The Dvorni Wine Bar in Ljubljana (DvorniBar.net) is my absolute favorite place to hang when I’m in Ljubljana.
    They are an exceptional wine bar of mostly Slovenian wines and a place to try a lot of new wines. Plus the
    bar food is exceptional. A great place & way to spend the afternoon (it gets pretty crowded & boisterous in
    the evenings). Just across the Ljubljanaca River and hard by the Univ of Ljubljana. Highly recommended.
  1. Sauvignonasse: Talk about a confusing mess of a grape name. They used to grow in Friuli/Slovenia the grape
    variety TokajFriulano. Alas, the Hungarians feared folks were confusing this grape w/ their Tokaji wine
    (as if a light/dry wine would be confused w/ a heavy/botrytis dessert wine), so they forced thru a measure
    (under the threat of invading Friuli w/ their sabres hoisted high) in the EEC to ban the name of TokajFriulano.
    So, now, the Friuli folks use “Friulano”/"Sauvignonasse (the true/viticultural name)/ or “Jakot” (Tokaj spelled
    backward). But…wait…it gets more confusing. In Chile, TokajFriuliano is known as SauvignonVert. But/but/but…
    wait. In Calif, there used to be an old grape called SauvignonVert. Made dreadfully ordinary wines. DNA-typing
    has shown that (Calif) SauvVert is actually Muscadelle (of Bordeaux fame). There are still some very old
    SauvVert plantings in Calif, used as Muscadelle in various old-vine white blends (Carlisle/Bedrock). But some
    Calif producers, who have a bent to make Friuli-style wines in Calif (Marcassin/Matthiasson) , prefer (for
    marketing reasons, presumably) to call this (Calif) SauvVert “TokajiFriuliano” in their blends. It’s all very
    complicated. Friggin’ Hungarians.
  1. Sorry, but the wine list didn’t include the vintages.
  1. BranikVlly: This valley lies in the upper ened of the Vipava Vllly and just below the Karst/Craso plateau.
  1. Zelen/Pinela: These are two varieties that apparently are indigenous to the VipavaVlly. I’ve not found that
    any DNA has been done on their parentage. On this trip, I tasted about a dozen Pinela & Zelen wines, and
    their blends. They mostly seem to produce light/fruity/refreshing/zippy/mineraly/pleasant whites along the
    lines of many of the TokajFriulanos of Friuli.
  1. Teran: This is a red variety that apparently originated on the Istrian Peninsula (Croatia). It is a member
    of the Refosco family. The Teran variety name as been hijacked by the Slovenians. They claim that the only
    true Teran comes from the reddish/limestone soils on the Karst and have forced thru a measure with the EEC
    to claim exclusive use of the Teran name, prohibiting the Italian/Friuli and Croatian producers from using
    the grape variety Teran on their labels. The situation is still evolving.
  1. Simcic: There are a number of Simcic’s in the GoriskaBrda region, of which Edi and Marjan are the best
    known in the USofA. “Medot” is the nickname of Miro Simcic’s grandfather and is the name he has adopted
    for his wines. He also makes a Sparkling Rebula.
    Tom