Time to look at a real heavy-weight when it comes to Gewürztraminer. We’re at Steyer and, this time looking at what bringing this noble variety to the extreme, as noted in the title, can get.

You should understand, if there is someone in Slovenia who knows how to produce an outstanding expression of Gewürztraminer, it’s Danilo Steyer. He started practically from nothing. His parents bought land suitable for vineyards at the end of the eighties. They give him his first vineyard at the beginning of the nineties when he starts to study and bottles his first wines in 1993. Ever since then, he’s been a driving force when speaking of this variety. The Steyer family currently looks after twenty hectares of vineyards, including also Sauvignon, Ranina, Riesling, Pinot noir, and Zweigelt.

Grapes for this wine come from a six-hectare plot Plitvički vrh at 280 meters above sea level. The vineyard counts for twenty-five years and is planted on clay and sandy soil. Hand-harvest is executed exclusively by hand at the end of September. Careful selection is implemented in the vineyard, and only the healthiest grapes made it into the cellar.

Bunches are destemmed and berries placed in a large 2.000-litre acacia barrel where they spent twenty-four months macerating, with spontaneous fermentation also conducting malolactic conversion. Finally, it was bottled straight from the barrel, without filtration. The 2.600 bottles produced have to endure two years of bottle-ageing before coming to the market.

This expression of Gewürztraminer displays an extractive, deep golden yellow with an amber edge. The texture is dense, with slow slipping tears and quickly stopping in the glass.

Aromas are intense and sumptuous. We notice baked apples, dried pineapple, also apricot jam and yellow plum jam. Soon our nose is overwhelmed by aromas of caramel, marzipan, roasted nuts, sage, oregano, hay, cocoa, tonka bean, and even a slight note of iodine.

The palate is oily, relatively warm with alcohol nicely embedded, with freshness and astringency balancing them, leaving flavours of sweet spices, herbs and smoke. This wine delivers an intense and elegant journey, with a vigorous body and a long aftertaste.

A wine with vast potential for ageing, which will only refine itself. I’m curious how it will taste in seven years as this one has the stamina to last for decennia.

Her and there, you’re lucky to come across a wine that leaves you speechless, and this one indeed does. Hats down, Danilo! A bottle costs 32,50 Eur and is only available by sending an email to steyer.vina@siol.net or calling +386(0)41 768 026.