Colnar – Rose, 2019

You know what, it’s always a good time for a glass of good rose! Agree with me or not, but I find it suitable for both, enjoying it in good company or sipping it next to a classy dish. It’s something about its atypical colour that people don’t usually even think of when speaking of wine, but trust me. Try bringing to the table a bottle of good Rose, and I’m sure your friends will love it. One of the options indeed is today’s choice, coming from the family Colnar.

We’re in Dolenjska district, which is part of our, unfortunately, most underrated wine region Posavje. However, in recent years we see development, a fresh breeze, bringing in unique expressions of sparkling wines, rose and Slovenia’s autochthonous Blaufränkisch.

Such is the case when speaking of wines of Janez Colnar. We’re at the slopes of Trška gora, and the grapes for this Rose are coming from a 5 years old vineyard, which was planted at 450 meters above sea level. The soil is composed of a mixture of bedrock and sand sediments. Actually, they were literally crushing chunks of rocks while plotting the vineyard. It is composed of 50 % Blaufränkisch and 50 % Pinot noir and facing South. Janez adopts a combination of conventional, low-intervention approaches with biodynamic elements.

Grapes are hand-harvested in the early morning and transferred immediately to the wine cellar. Much attention is done to prevent early heating and oxidation of berries, so even the trailer is equipped with a cooling system. Attentive selection of grapes is made before the destemming, which is done with the addition of dry ice. Whole berries are moved to the press, where they macerate for 4 hours—all in an inert zone.

Juices are moved with fine lees to stainless vats and chilled to 0 ° Celsius, where they stay in an inert atmosphere for up to 3 weeks, just batonnage is carried during this time. Alcoholic fermentation is started with the addition of selected yeast, and it carries on for the next 2 months as temperatures are kept low. March is when they bottle it, and it goes straight to the market.

It has a bright, salmon-pink colour.

Its aromas are intense, subtle. We perceive and intertwining of fruitiness and flowers. Raspberry, cherry, peach, melon and red grapefruit flirt with red rose petals.

It is dry, with an intensely refreshing and mineral character. It is a wine of pleasant drinkability with a medium body and medium-lasting persistency—overall a wine which displays an elegant flavour palate.

This wine really shows the characteristics of the vintage, as 2018 displayed a touch of complexity more. 2018 actually scored the golden medal at Decanter’s world wine awards, but none the less it is an excellent example of a rose that will please and sparkle talks with friends at a table. A bottle will cost you 12 Eur, and you can get it at their webshop or Vina Posavja.