Welschriesling, Strekov, Slovakia

Winemaker Zsolt Sütó is a farmer by trade (check out his pumpkin seed oil!) with a holistic point of view and risk-taking gumption. A certified organic, zero-zero wine that is macerated on its skins, fermented under “voile”, – aka a film of yeast that develops and protects the wine from oxygen – and bottled with its lees for a rugged sense of terroir. A unique microclimate, their property is surrounded by marshland with clay-loam and limestone soils, imparting earthy, mineral richness. Vines are unfertilized and trained as single-pole bush-vines – think regal pole dancers, but leafy – with a small portion becoming deliciously botrytis (aka noble rot) affected due to the marshy humidity. A beeswax umbrella, popping shiro plums, warm white shells, flamboyant quince, Newtown Pippin apple your mom cut for you & a hint of crushed nuttiness. Pair with conch salad and crab cakes as you meditate on Zsolt’s widely relevant words, “you taste a wine like this, and you become uncertain…and people don’t want that, but we DO want it, so very badly.”