Nando, "Malvazija" 2020

Producer Profile: For a quarter of a century, Andrej Kristančič has been growing really classic wines of a very particular region in the wine-world – working in Plesivo, Brda, the winegrowing region of Primorska in Slovenia that borders the Italian slopes of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, these are the textural delights with meadow-borne umami and a kind of baroque muscle that have long held the fascination of generations’ worth of drinkers. The wines’ drama evokes the landscape in which they are created: the warm & salty sea air of the northern Adriatic wanders north into the Friulian Collio and the Brda slopes, brightening the otherwise cooling influence of the Julian Alps, directly north of these wine regions. Power and intensity, reminiscent of a German phrase, “Sturm und drang”(tr.: storm & stress, describing an 18th century literary/arts movement of the highly dramatic, romantic, and nearly-dark), create a kind of romance between opposing forces each with their own heft. Yes, acidity, but also yes breadth and body – elegant wines that carry an old wine critic’s term into new-fangled territory and meaning: these are “haunting” wines of Rebula, Chardonnay, Tokaj, Malvazija, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cab Sauv, grown in the ponka (tr.: extremely poor marl) soils of the Slovenian west. Delicious & artistic.

Vinification: Grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, and fermented in stainless steel on the skins for 12 hours. The wine ages in tank on the lees for 6 months, followed by bottling unfined, unfiltered with no SO2. 

Tasting: An elegant, floral orange to round out the summer. Tobacco and the softest hint of talcom on the nose. Tastes like ripe honeydew spritzed with bitter citrus and flaky sea salt. Serve alongside a light, fresh Mediterranean dinner.