Gordia – Bio amfora, 2018

Finally, after a challenging year, I’ve managed to return to Kolomban to visit Andrej and Tina Cep at Gordia. A visit marked by pristine, heartwarming moments and these chats between friends you’ve been missing for all of these months of closure.

Naturally, the visit was spiced with their wines – a display of characters slowly developing into a crescendo of flavours and perceptions. Tricky to pick one of the boys, but one that stood out, and most of all showed a marking revolution of style was this Bio amphora white.

A change from the 2016 in the direction of blending, where approximately half is composed of Malvasia, rests in a major part of Pinot Gris and a 10 % of White Muscat. After hand-harvesting and destemming, grapes are crushed and then put into amphorae to macerate and ferment for approximately ten months. The mash is then removed, gently pressed and returned into amphoras for 18 months. It is then bottled, with minimum addition of Sulphur and without filtration.

It has a deep golden yellow colour, with an amber hue. It is a bit hazy and tends to swirl heavier in the glass.

Its displays a lusciously intense bouquet of dried fruit, with grape skin, raisin, apricot, apple, pineapple and papaya. With hints of chamomile, honey, pine bursts, resin, fennel seeds, thyme and rosemary.

The taste is sumptuous, oily, embracing our mouth to be refreshed with crisp acidity and perceivable tannins coming from prolonged contact with grape skin and seeds. It has an intense, structured taste of pronounced elegance and lasting persistency.

A wine that can be drunk now but has the potential to forget the bottles in the cellar and remember you stored them somewhere in seven to ten years. A bottle will cost you approximately 20 Eur, and you can get it at Vinoo.co, Vinoteka Sodček, Naravna vina and The orange wine club.

I’m amazed by Andrej’s progress and how he keeps on raising the bar of his wines. As he says: “I’m just a self-learned winemaker, who has only one opportunity in the year to make it or ruin it all.” As if he would be challenging himself to grow, learn, be better—some rare qualities of a humble guy, producing exceptional, expressive wines with style.