Hello wine lovers!

As promised here’s some news from the Malvazija tour. I hear all stops of the tour have been a total success so far and if you still haven’t attended any, here’s a post that will surely make you change your mind…

This time the tour stopped in Ljubljana at spaghetteria & pizzeria Favola. The winemakers present were Vinakoper, Ražman, Korenika & Moškon and Mahnič while a special guest chef has been enlisted for the occasion. I’m talking about Peter Patajac from Ruj inn. The atmosphere was intimate and quite an audience of thirsty and hungry people gathered.

As aperitif we got served a sparkling wine and could only guess what it was. In the end we guessed right, it was a sparkling Malvazija which is a new wine, coming from Vinakoper and is produced via Charmat procedure.

The evening started with Ingrid Mahnič’s introduction to the Malvazija festival and tour. Ingrid is the president of the Association of winemakers of Slovene Istra and one of the responsibles of the festival. The effort that she and the Association invested is having a huge impact on the perception of Malvazija in Slovenia, Italy and Croatia.

End of the introduction, loud applause and here they were, waiters with bottles of Ražman’s 2008 Malvazija and the evenings first dish – Mussels, prawns and leek tagliata with 25 years old balsamic vinegar Solai Vecchi.

Malvazija – Ražman, 2008

The wine is of a straw yellow color with golden nuances. It has rather intense, fine aromas of acacia, camomile, liquorice and mature fruit (pineapple, agrumi). It is dry, rather balanced with freshness and minerality prevailing on the palate. It’s an elegant, intense, full-bodied and well structured wine with a rather long aftertaste.

The wine kept pace with mussels and prawns and if talked in a racing language surpassed them, it also had an interesting play with balsamic vinegar and leek.

Malvazija Capris – Vinakoper, 2008

This wine is of a straw yellow color with golden nuances. It has fine, intense aromas of matured fruit (pineapple, banana, agrumi), acacia and also some wild berry nuances. It is dry, rather balanced, elegant with a rather long aftertaste. It is a rather harmonic and matured wine.

The dish that accompanied this wine consisted of Cream polenta with cicory, filet of fresh seabass Fonda, a slice of speck with a bit of pelati reduction San Marzano. Peter Patajac explained us how he prepared the dish, while Irena Fonda introduced their seabass and how they produce some of the best fish in Jadran.

Malvazija – Korenika & Moškon, 2007

Matej Korenika presented the Korenika & Moškon wineries, the philosophy which they follow and how their Malvazija is produced.

The wine is of a straw yellow, with golden nuances color and is rather dense. It has fine, intense nuances of mature fruit (pineapple, agrumi, banana), flowers (acacia), making it rather rich on aromas. The wine is dry, rather balanced, elegant, full-bodied, and well structured. It has a long aftertaste.

The wine gently evolved in mouth and it was a perfect pair with Lambkin cutlet with bio barley risotto, radicchio tardivo, olive oil and Piranean salt flower.

Malvazija – Mahnič, 2006

Ingrid Mahnič presented her Malvazija which is medium dry. The wine is of a golden color and is dense. It has rich, intense and fine aromas of matured fruit (pineapple, agrumi) and flowers (acacia). It is medium dry, elegant, rather intense, balanced and full-bodied.

The wine went perfectly with the dessert – mousse with half-candied oranges, orange sponge-cake and coffee beans, leaving in mouth a nice orange aftertaste.

Ingrid also prepared us a surprise. She brought a sweet Malvazija 2000, which she only has about 12 bottles left now. The grapes were attacked by Botrytis and the result is a sweet, dense wine of a golden color. The aromas are rich, fine and intense mainly of matured and dry fruit (pineapple, orange), acacia honey, lacquer, … It is elegant, full-bodied, well-structured and has a long aftertaste. A harmonic wine, which still has a lot of life ahead.

To sum it all the evening offered a nice introspective into winemakers philosophy the Malvazija’s evolution and the trends in its production. I hope this post convinces you to visit a stop of Malvazija tour or to come to the festival.

Stay tuned and cheers!