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What a day of racing we had today, and what a /WORLD TOUR WINE/ we have to enjoy!
As one very helpful Bert tipped me off, today's stage dips in and out of sLOVEnia, finishing in the town of Nova Gorica. So, as a surprise, we have a lovely Slovenian wine!! There is a small appellation just to the northwest adjacent to the Gonjace climb known as Goriska Brda where today's VERY interesting wine is grown and vinified. This appears to be a little natural winery that also has a restaurant and small hotel. Looks quite lovely. The winemaker, Jean Michel Morel, is a Bordelais who married into a Slovenian farming family. He convinced his father-in-law to stop selling the crop and make his own wine instead (first vintage 1993).
Kabaj Luisa 2013 ($37).
This is a white blend of Ribolla Gialla, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Vert, and Sauvignon Blanc. It has light skin contact so would perhaps be considered an orange wine. According to the bottle, it is aged 10 years in barrel before bottling but the website says 24 months in 225 liter French oak barrels so who knows. 2013 is the newest vintage to be released but I'm not sure whether the extra 10 years is in bottle or barrel.
Pours a beautiful golden color with honey core. The nose is very elegant and refined -- honey, apricot, white tea, pepper. Complex but restrained. The palate is soft, with gentle apricot and ripe melon, tarragon, whiff of sandlewood, light butter. There is just the slightest tannin grip from the skin contact, but everything is melded beautifully here, with stony minerality and light acidity. The body/intensity is medium.
Really nice, one of the better whites of the year. We'll see how this opens up throughout the day.