Sutor – Red, 2016

Sutor - Red, 2016
Sutor – Red, 2016
Photo: Mihaela Majerhold – Ostrovršnik

We’re returning to Vipava Valley today, to look at a wine that will make your heart swing in beats of happiness while sipping it. We’re at the family Lavrenčič which, under the brand Sutor, crafts wines renowned for their refined elegance. Such is the case with their Red.

They follow low-intervention principles in their farming, sometimes also utilizing biodynamic elements. Grapes for this wine, a union of 95 % Merlot and 5 % Cabernet Sauvignon, are coming from a vineyard facing West and is well protected from the famous Burja wind. This allows for berries to fully ripe while maintaining acidity.

It is cultivated at an altitude of 300 – 350 meters above sea level with the upper part consisting of flysch, slowly intricating with clay as we reach the lower part.

Careful selection of clusters is made, and vines are loaded with a maximum of 1 kg. Only the best grapes are picked in the first third of October. The process of vinification includes a 12-day maceration and fermentation with grapes indigenous yeasts through remontage. The temperatures are not exceeding 28 ° Celsius here.

Following a gentle pressing, the juice and fine lees are then transferred in stainless vats for a week to stabilize. Then it is transferred in half new and half 1-time used barrique barrels of French origin – Cadus. There it matures for 1 year with constant batonnage, also conducting malolactic fermentation.

The wine is then assembled and left to stabilize in stainless tanks, only to be transferred to further mature for another year in 3-4 years old barriques. Ultimately it is transferred to a large stainless vat to stabilize over a year and is then bottled without filtration.

This results in a deep ruby red coloured wine with a dense texture.

Aromas are accentuated, subtle. We perceive ripe cherries, mulberries, blackberries, roses, notes of roasted nuts, vanilla, cloves, locust bean, red pepper, anise and dried herbs.

The taste boasts with elegance! It is soft, warm but at the same time refreshing to our palate. Its velvety tannins act youthful with a complex structure and lasting taste.

A wine that boasts with self-confidence, it shows a cosmopolitan character hailing from the Vipava Valley!

This Sutor’s elegant gentleman will please the palate of many now, but it will only improve over the years. I’m curious to taste it again in 7 years to see how it evolved, but it will keep in shape even longer.

You can get the magnum version of it for 42,90 Eur at eVino, which is a bargain. At the same time, the 2017 vintage will cost you a fair 21,00 Eur.

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