Every here and there, you stumble across a wine that makes you think. And this is one of the cases. It’s a Malvazija or Malvasia Istirana that challenges your senses and has been produced in a rather unconventional way. Moreover, it’s coming from a relatively unknown winemaker who has quite some experience and recently decided to bottle wines under the Norbin brand.
The winemaking process is rather intriguing. Ripe grapes of Malvasia are destemmed, crushed and left to macerate with spontaneous fermentation for fourteen days. After a gentle pressing, the juice is racked into used barrique barrels on fine lees. The first year sees stirring them frequently, and after a year, half goes into stainless vats and is dedicated to the white label. Whereas for this one it stays in barriques for another year without batonnage.
Finally, it is racked into stainless vats, where it stabilszes for the next month, before being bottled wothout filtration.
This Malvazija displays a golden yellow colour with a slight haze and a dense texture.
Its intense bouquet reminds us of dried tropical fruit. We notice pineapple, dried apricots, and kiwi jam. Acacia honey is intertwined with notes of papaya and dried yellow roses. Scents of grapes soaked in alcohol are present through the sensing and accompany rye bread crust nicely and dried thyme.
The mouthfeel is soft, oily but at the same time warm. Its pronounced freshness marks the mineral signature of the terrain, which is reflected in the structured and long aftertaste of the elegance. It is a somewhat archaic style of Malvasia, if I may call it that way, but with depth and incredible potential for pairing with food.
To drink now, but it will stay in shape for at least the next five to seven years. A bottle will cost you 33 Eur, and you can order it at Kletvica.