2018 Roka Blaufrankisch

Organic viticulture. Destemmed, spontaneous fermentation in an open-top fermenter. Very low sulphite addition before bottling. Unfined, unfiltered. More spicy on the nose than the other Roka Blaufränkischs vintages – clove and pepper. Tobacco, chestnuts and a smudge of sweet leather. Wild flowers and something pink. Hibiscus? Raspberry tea leaf and spine-tingling mintiness. Generous, more floral, generous and intense but not extracted or big in anyway. Ripe, richer acidity. Damsons and tiny, tiny wild strawberries, air-dried and turned into popping candy. Three cold black pebbles. A scrawl of handwritten words on curling parchment lying under an old tree, half hidden by russet leaves. The tannins, curlicue, tuck behind the fruit, pushing it gently forward, but always there. (TC)

Picked 28 September. Not yet bottled at time of tasting (was bottled on 27 October 2019). Only racked twice: once Fermented in 500-litre open-oak fermenters. Pressed and assembled in tank for 48 hours. Racked to two 500-litre barrels, Stockinger, one new and one fourth fill. LDL toast (light, deep and long). There is a tiny bit of Laški added to the 2018 – they topped up the barrels with fermenting Laški juice. Racked out of barrel after a late malolactic fermentation in July and left in tank until bottled (late October). It only received sulphur dioxide when it was racked into tank out of barrels. 18 mg/l free SO2, 34 mg/l total SL2, pH 3.21. Bright, red-jewel fruit on the nose. Inky blue shadows. Aniseed dust. Bresaola. Cracked coriander seed. Vineyard mint and tarragon on the nose and palate. Almost grassy, but in the best way with the umami base of nori. The compact, tight, sinewy muscularity of a gymnast in the tannins. Violet, lavender, cumin seed on the palate, a hint of Blaufränkisch meatiness, then that glowing, jewelled fruit opening up like a flower in the mouth. Long, persistently fresh citrus acidity on the finish and length. So damn delicious you want to drink it right now. (TC)