Thursday evening was a great night to be a wine and food blogger. My friend Karen and I started our outing with a stop at Edmunds Oast Exchange for the Thursday evening wine tasting. This is a super deal and should not be missed. You make a $5.00 donation to the charity of the week, and you taste four wines in a walk-in style tasting. Ask all the questions you have running through your brain. Then buy some wine. They have excellent volume discounts. This week they were tasting Slovenian Wine from Movia. After the tasting, we headed to Felix Cocktails et Cuisine for a taste and a sip of Paris. Today’s post is all about the wine tasting. My next post will be about the fantastic experience at Félix.
Slovenian Wines by Movia Tasted
at Edmunds Oast Exchange
This store is all about promotion. There is a beer tasting on Tuesdays, a blind wine tasting on Wednesdays, a featured wine tasting on Thursdays, a Fancy Wine Happy Hour on Fridays and a Somm School on Saturday mornings. All tastings and happy hours are from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm and the school is from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm. These tastings are a great way to start an evening and then head for dinner somewhere (maybe Edmunds Oast?) If you are into tastings, you may want to sign up for their newsletter, so you know what is happening. Go to the website, then scroll to the bottom of the page. Look to the lower left corner Sign up for the newsletter.
Edmunds Oast Exchange is located at 1081 Morrison Drive in the thriving Upper King area. Phone: 843-990-9449
The Estate
The Movia estate in the Goriska Brda region of Slovenia. This property dates back to the 1700s passing into the hands of the Kristančič family with a wedding in 1820. It is approximately 54 acres in size with half of the acreage across the border in Italy in the Collio Goriziano region. Keep in mind that back in the day the border was not as it is today, so the land ownership has remained with the Kristančič family.
These Slovenian Wines
The tasting included two white wines, an amber wine (aka orange) and one red wine. These wines are confoundingly beautiful, confusingly complex and like no other wines I have tasted. It was an experience that I am thrilled to have under my belt and am proud to see Charleston have such a diverse wine community that wines such as these are available.
Movia (Sivi) Pinot Grigio 2013, Brda, Slovenia
This wine is unlike any Pinot Grigio I have ever had. When I think about PG, I think of light, almost clear, citrusy summer wines. That is not this wine.
The color was a straw yellow. Its age plays a part in that. The nose to me was puzzling and almost indescribable but allow me to throw some words – acidic, thick, wet mud. It has a rich and intense mouthfeel. I like the term “hugging my tongue.” The flavors on the palate left me without words, other than I REALLY liked it.
My senses were on overload, and I needed more time to stew over this wine. So I bought a bottle of this wine so that I can spend quiet time with it and parse out the nuances that were hiding in plain sight at the shop. So I will report back on this wine again. I loved the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone.
This wine sells for $25.00 per bottle.
Movia (Rebula) Ribolla 2015, Brda, Slovenia
The Ribolla grape is said to be indigenous to Slovenia although the Italians will fight you over that claim. Clearly, the border has changed hands throughout time, so we can say without a doubt that this varietal is indigenous to land that is or has been part of Slovenia and Italy since the thirteenth century.
The color is golden to a lighter amber. The nose of this wine was intensely floral with a hint of creamy vanilla. It was calming and beautiful and made me want to dive into the glass and languish in the pool of mixed spring flowers and vanilla. Upon tasting the wine, that image vanished in a millisecond. On the palate came striking acidity with citrus and tart gooseberry notes followed by a mild salinity. Eighteen months in French oak barrels on the lees* brings out the medium body and mouthfeel of this unique wine.
* Lees refers to deposits of dead yeast or residual yeast and other particles that precipitate or are carried by the action of “fining,” to the bottom of a vat of wine after fermentation and aging. So “on the lees” means that the particles are left for sometime after the fermenting period.
This wine would pair well with oysters and saltwater fish with a rich butter or cream sauce. I can see poached salmon with a butter dill sauce on the plate begging for this wine.
This wine sells for $25.00
Movia Veliko 2008, Brda, Slovenia
I know! Ten years old. This is the amber wine. Some folks call amber wine, orange wine. However, that may confuse and make some think that this is wine made of orange fruit which is not the case.
Veliko is a blend that will vary from vintage to vintage. 2008 is 60% Ribolla, 20% Sauvignon (Blanc) and 10% Pinot Grigio.
This was the wine that I came to taste, and it was by far the most confounding and confusing. The contrast between the nose and the palate was immense, but that certainly is also part of its charm. The nose is thick like honey and caramel. It was like smelling a well aged Tawny or Madiera. I was in heaven. I asked the resident som if we were embarking on a dessert wine and she just smiled and said keep going.
Bam! Not dessert. It is super bright (also known as acidic) with intense citrus flavors. The most predominant flavor is lime rind, and that lingers for a bit settling into an earthy salinity in the finish.
This wine sells for $42.00 a bottle.
Movia Modri Pinot Noir (Nero) 2011, Brda, Slovenia
As a big fan of Pinot Noir, I was slightly concerned what I was about to taste as all of the other wines were such surprises. But alas, this wine is made similar to those in Burgundy, so the surprises stopped here.
The winemaker considers this his flagship wine. A wine that he is happy to have you compare to other producers of fine Pinot Noir wines.
The color is deep garnet. The nose is dusty and leathery and rich with black fruits like prunes and raisins. It is immediately dry on the palate with the same black fruits following closely behind. I did not find this wine to be a cocktail wine but rather one that you drink with food. Perhaps pasta with a hearty tomato sauce would be a great match.
This wine sells for $42.00 a bottle.
This Slovenian tasting was a total blast, and I look forward to seeing what will come in the weeks ahead. After the tasting, we headed south on King to have dinner at Félix Cocktails et Cuisine. Stay tuned for my report on one of Charleston’s newer restaurants.
That is all for now.
Cheers,
rick
Thank You, Chris, for use of your image from Slovenia as my featured image. While not from the Brda region it’s only approx. 65 km away.
Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash