Gabernik Hmelj Pikola Rumeni Muskat 500ml

A foot in Bavaria (hops) and one in Friuli (Muscat Giallo), yet distinctly Slovenian. Nick worked with the estate fruit and gathered hops from eastern Austria to put this together. The shame is the vessel size as 500mL simply isn’t enough.

The fruit was hand-harvested and wine was made naturally, retaining the pressings. In another lot a small amount of the grapes were gently pressed and the juice was kept very cold in order to prevent fermentation. With both pressings, a bit of water was added to extract any remaining sugar and allowed the fermentation to occur naturally. A bit of hand plunging ensued and the ‘wine’ was pressed off skins after eight days, then a bit of sulfur was added to ensure the juice remained fresh. A small amount of juice (33%) was added to continue the fermentation in tank without any additions (other than hops) and when it was nearly finished it was bottled, finishing the fermentation in bottle with nothing added nor taken away.

Grapefruit and honeyed lemon rind notes emerge with a subtle whiff of fresh hops. The hops are more noticeable on the palate in a unique freshness and not a bittering agent with white pepper, fresh apricot and lemon curd flavors coming full circle. – VSI