In our never-ending quest to try all the grape varietals in the world, we've been enjoying several bottles from the Wines of Illyria brand as they feature an array of new-to-us grapes from the Balkans at a relatively reasonable price point.
Blatina is one such grape we got to try from this brand, and while we thought this particular bottle was somewhat simple it went quite nicely with stuffed cabbage rolls!
Whenever we have oysters, our thoughts go to Muscadet Sevret et Maine sur lie as the pairing.
There is something about this particular grape that works so well with oysters as the lees aging offers a richness to what would otherwise be a simple wine. Beyond that, we historically have noted a decent salinity in this style of wine that offsets the brininess of oysters quite nicely.
So naturally, when we had oysters delivered to our house, it was time to open a Domaine des Quatre Routes Muscadet Sevre et Maine Sur Lie!
As I am slowly falling in love with the Northern Rhone for its Syrah, I've always been curious about trying the region's notable white grape- Viognier.
If Cote-Rotie is the champion of all things Syrah, then Condrieu nearby is all about this floral and fragrant grape. But there was always one problem- it is really hard to find a reasonable bottle of Condrieu. $80-$100+ is the norm with these, and it wasn't until I stumbled upon a $60 bottle of E. Guigal Condrieu at a Total Wine in Virginia that I finally threw reason out the door and snatched one up.
While this one was a bit out of the conventional balance we like, we have to admit, the flavor was a winner.
Our first 100% varietal Picpoul comes not from the more well-known regions of Europe but rather the Columbia Valley of Oregon from Flat Brim Wines.
This bottle is rather aptly named Not Basic as it is an orange wine made with skin contact for two weeks and foot trodden regularly and is something you don't see all too often. (So you can see why the Not Basic name works.)
While we noted some Brettanomyces and possibly reduction on the nose that took away from this one a bit for our liking, we have to say it was rather interesting all the same!
When studying for my WSET Level 3 exam, we knew we had to buy some Greek wine in order to learn more about this new region (which was not featured in Level 2). So we picked up a bottle of Xinomavro from Kir-Yianni and opened it shortly after covering this country in the book.
While we definitely think this bottle is still quite intense in the tannin department (and could age well beyond its five years at the time of opening), it was an interesting one all the same!
Uivo Renegado from the Douro Valley of Portugal is an interesting rose wine as it is a field blend of over 25 different grapes including Tinta Barro, Tinta Roriz, Malvasia Fina, Donzelinho, Gouveio, Rabigato, Rufete, and Viosinho to name a few.
The wine is macerated with whole clusters, spontaneously fermented, aged on the lees, and further aged in a mix of old oak and cement tanks.
This all comes together with a wine that has a lot going on, specifically in the aroma department!
Bloomer Creek is one of our favorite Finger Lakes wineries and part of the reason for this, beyond their wine simply being delicious, is that they do production techniques and blends that you don't normally expect to find in the region.
The Vin d'Ete 2018 was on the more traditional side of things and is 95% Merlot and 5% Gamay. This one produced a wonderful aroma and flavor profile but also came packed with a hit of Brettanomyces that was just a bit much for us.
Still, we're glad we tried this wine all the same.
Muga Rioja Reserva is an aged Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain, that has an intense and wonderfully complex aroma and flavor profile.
Unfortunately, this one was pretty strong in the vegetal and earthy department which, for me at least, was a bit too much for my palate.
Markou Vineyards Savatiano comes from Nemea Peloponnese in Greece with a wide flavor profile of citrus fruits, bitter pith, minerals, and more.
But as this one is a bit lacking in the acidity department, we found ourselves wanting a bit more.
Strekov's Fred wine blends from Slovakia consist of Alibernet and Dunaj grapes. But what is interesting in this one is that the series consists of several bottles in numeric sequence (e.g. Fred #2, Fred #3, etc.) where, as far as we can tell at least, the only discernable difference is the blend percentage of the two grapes (what they are, well, we can't tell).
From there, the wines are produced with minimal intervention at all and the result is an incredibly juicy, fruit-forward wine.
