2021-C Simcic Pinot Grigio, Brda, Slovenia (750ml)
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A Monthly Wine Club Selection
A Ramato style (Pinot Grigio can have a bit of color in tyhe skins), 100% Pinot Grigio from 15 – 35-year-old vines, hand-harvested. A£ter a 48-hour cold maceration, the grapes were gently pressed and fermented with native yeasts in stainless-steel tanks. The resulting wine was aged for 6 months on the lees in stainless steel, with subsequent bottle maturation of at least a month before release. Pale rose-gold hue. Complex scents of candied orange peel, pineapple and lemon peel, with a touch of yeast and spice. The palate is citrus driven with a rich mouthfeel, offering juicy tropical fruit and melon flavors with bright acidity and a salty mineral note on the phenolic finish.
Domaine Marjan Simčič is a small winery located in the Goriška Brda wine region of Slovenia, where Josef Simčič began making wine in 1860. Five generations later, Marjan Simčič carries on the tradition along with his father, who is now 82 and still actively involved in day-to-day winery operations. Their 18 hectares of vineyards straddle the border between Italy and Slovenia, in the village of Ceglo. During the communist era, when this was part of Yugoslavia, everything had to be exported through local cooperatives. But Tito’s regime was more liberal than most communist countries, and the border wasn’t sealed. The growers could trade with their neighbors over in Italy, and were able to work vineyards on both sides the border. History preserved this small, superb wine region, and Marjan intends to do the same.
The Collio region, and Goriška Brda both refer to the Gorizia Hills area that connects the North-Easterly Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region in Italy into neighboring Slovenia. With less than 4000 hectares under vine in total, the zone is lesser known, yet its legacy of high-quality wines measures up to the most prolific in the world. Simčič’s remarkable wines are the result of the region’s many microclimates and mineral-rich calcareous soil, known as Opoka.