Categories: Wine

Movia – Lunar, 2016

Movia – Lunar, 2016
Photo: Mihaela Majerhold – Ostrovršnik

You know what, let’s have a wine that’s totally out of this world today! A wine, special not just by the looks but by everything it represents. I’m speaking of Movia‘s Lunar. A wine so unconventional it will shake your ground and rock your feet thoroughly …

Actually, the “whole package” is so different you’d better be prepared before tasting it. The bottle holds 1-litre volume, and if you look at it carefully, you’ll notice either a portion of sediment or quite a hazy fluid roaming in the bottle. It’s actually meant to be so, I mean, to have sediment which you have to decant … And by decanting, I meant the essence of this procedure, to separate the sediment from the fluid.

We’re speaking of a single vineyard Rebula or Ribolla gialla here … Grapes are coming from a 30 years old vineyard close to the village of Fojana, facing south-west. As typical for Brda, the soil is Opoka – a mixture of marl and limestone. As for all of the wines at Movia, these vines are looked after following organic farming principles, with biodynamic specifics.

Lunar is produced in an unorthodox way. Grapes are brought to the cellar and destemmed. After a thorough check, berries are put straight into specially designed barrels with a wider – 25 centimetre opening on top. The fermentation starts spontaneously. We’re talking of a combination of intracellular and spontaneous fermentation with indigenous yeast. There’s a special net inside these barrels that helps to crush the fermenting hat, keeping it moist at all time. When lees and skins start to form the sediment slowly, they stir it “gently”, or as they say, they observe by gently stirring it …

After 8 months of maceration in barrels – oh wait, that’s the reason for 8 moons on the label – the wine is bottled without filtration, keeping the sediment. It then lays in bottles for a minimum of 24 months before coming to the market. This one was bottled in April 2017, and I opened it this January … You should decant it, and if lucky, Rogaška’s Aurea Lira is the perfect match for this occasion.

Lunar has a clear to hazy (depends on how you decant it) amber colour with a dense texture. The swirl is quickly stopped, with long tears slowly falling on the walls of the glass.

The intense and fine bouquet is mostly fruity. We notice ripe apricot, peach, baked apples, yellow plum, grape berries soaked in alcohol, mango and pineapple crumbs. Then candied orange, dried chamomile, black tea, lemongrass, nettle and thyme. Swirling it int he glass evokes white pepper, toffee, caramel, autumn leaves, and finally, a flint note.

Lunar’s palate is youthful, soft, on the other hand crisply fresh with mineral salinity and pleasant, perceivable tannins derived from the vinification process. A full-bodied, with intense, accentuated elegance and very long persistency.

A wine that can easily be enjoyed now, even though it is a real youngster in need of schooling. It will only develop and mature to fully display its noble character over the following years of proper bottle ageing. Overall it emphases Rebula’s characteristics in an elegant and harmonious accordion of extract, aromas and flavour profile.

None the less, it made me feel like walking through a meadow full of yellow dandelion flowers while sipping it, and I’m curious what the would be the terms you associate it with while sipping it. Are you up for some sharing?

You can get it for 31 Eur at eVino and Koželj, but I’m sure you’ll be able to get it also outside of Slovenia. A youngster that will only evolve; have in mind sediment helps to protect it. You can easily forget about these bottles for the next 10 years and then check how it developed. I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the vivacity it will keep.

Photo: Mihaela Majerhold – Ostrovršnik
Valentin

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