WTN: Balkan verve

2007 Guerila Vipava Valley Pinela (Vipava Valley, Slovenia) cork closure, 12.68% - imported to USA by USA Wine Imports, New York, New York – my first pinela – wow, what a great recommendation, the stony qualities and focus of a chablis combined with utterly beautiful rounded fruit, lots of stone, lots of minerality, great verve, delicious on days one and two, great with cheese, great with smoked herring, wonderful delicious friendly wine, yum, nicely done for $22.

2007 Čitluk Kameno [90 percent Žilavka, 10 percent Bena] (Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina) cork closure, 13% - imported to USA by A.B. Company of Wisconsin, Lincolnwood, Illinois – my first Bosnian wine – appears darker gold with slight embedded spritz, smell very nice as it opens, flowers, stone, slight honey, very very nice nose, taste lively, excellent balance, fruit is delicious while body is lively and tasty, great verve, superb with steamed potatoes with kale and chard, great food wine, a bottle goes very quickly, delicious. A total deal for $12

[Jenise]

Now THAT's a cool tasting note. Most of us will never see wines like this, but sure would love to try them. Thanks for the post.

Keith:

Do those grapes go by any other names elsewhere, or are they limited to that area?

Joe,

From what I've heard, Žilavka and Pinela are autochthonous to the Balkans. I don't know about Bena.

Jenise,

Presumably these wines are becoming more available--these were distributed by a company here in California (Blue Danube) that focuses on wines from the former Yugoslavia.

I sampled a bit of Čitluk's red Blatina last night (another autochthonous grape). Stunning. Delicious. Floral and earth. Perfect balance and drinkability. And ten (10!) dollars. Crazy!