The wine of the month
Vino Kupljen, Loona, 2019
5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP
September 2021: Vino Kupljen, Loona, 2019 (15 EUR when purchasing in the winery) white dry wine, Mihailovici Kristal, Jeruzalem, Stajerska, Slovenia, 5,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP (100 points of 100 points) (07-09-2021 by Nenad Jelisic)
Jesus Christ what a wine! It has everything that a fabulous white wine should have, i.e. wonderful freshness and minerality, complexity, fruitiness and concentration. And all these aforementioned components live in a wonderful symbiosis in the wine. Better to say the balance between acidity, minerality, fruitiness and concentration is perfect. Bravo Samo Kupljen (winemaker and owner of Vino Kupljen)! This wine together with Edi Simcic Sauvignon 2016 belong to the two best and most complex and concentrated Sauvignon Blanc-wines that I have tasted so far. A Sauvignon Blanc-wine like this you cannot find in the wine region of Loire in France or in the wine region of Marlborough in New Zealand or anywhere else in the wine world. Here we are talking about one of the world's best Sauvignon Blanc-wines without a doubt.
The aroma is fabulous, but the flavour and the aftertaste are even better. If we start with the aroma; wonderful ripe peaches, sweet spices, white flowers, ripe quince, yellow pears, yellow apples and blackcurrant leaves. Then if we continue with the flavour; wow, ripe peaches, minerals, ripe quinces, citrus fruits, sweet spices, blackcurrant leaves, pears and apples. It happens extremely rarely that a Sauvignon Blanc-wine reaches such heights like this wine. The aftertaste is very long, and it feels like it never disappears from the mouth. It starts with ripe quince, then comes minerals, citrus fruits, yellow pears and yellow apples. The wine is a fabulous wine already now, but it can be aged for at least 8 more years i.e. until at least 2029.
Vino Kupljen Loona 2019 can be enjoyed both as an aperitif-wine and or wine to hang out with friends. It will go really well with spaghetti pasta frutti di mare with shellfish or with lobster halves au gratin with some butter, parsley and finely chopped red peppers on them or with grilled salmon with white wine sauce and boiled potatoes (preferably new potatoes) or with grilled corn chicken with grilled red peppers, grilled tomatoes, grilled zucchinis, potato croquettes and a little bearnaise sauce or with Bouillabaisse or with stir-fried chicken pieces with coconut milk, red peppers, small corn cobs, finely chopped yellow onions, bamboo shoots and cocked jasmine rice. Enjoy this fabulous wine at 8 to 10°C from glasses like Difference Crisp from Orrefors or Wine Wings Sauvignon Blanc from Riedel or Esprit from Peugeot or Atelier from Luigi Bormioli.
The grapes for the wine come from the vineyard Mihailovici Kristal. Vines are 18 years old. The soils on which the grapes grow consists of marl (a clayey soil that contains a lot of lime), sandstone and quartz on top of clay. The grapes are hand-harvested and carefully selected both in the field and on income to the winery. The upper part of the vineyard is late harvested, i.e. the harvest begins 1 to 2 weeks after the grapes have reached their full ripeness. After the destemming and crushing process, the grape must, which consists of pulp, skins, grape juice and seeds, goes in a press machine where it is macerated for about 24 to 36 hours at a temperature between 10 and 15 degrees. When the maceration, pressing and sedimentation are complete, the must is poured into stainless steel tanks and cold fermented until 50 to 60% of the wine sugar has been fermented. Then the must is poured into 75% used and 25% new 225 litres (barrique) oak barrels from France where it is fermented for about 10 days. After the fermentation, the wine is aged in the same oak barrel as it has been fermented for about 8 months. Stirring of wine lees (batonnage) takes place during the first three months. After the aging, the wine is bottled and aged for about 1 more month. The wine is not filtered.
