Movia, Rebula (Ribolla), Brda, Slovenia 2020

Movia's Rebula is from vines over 65 years old. It has an inviting golden to amber colour, which speaks of longer skin contact. The nose is amazingly rich for Rebula, with gooseberries and blackcurrants dominating over gentle pine and fine oak notes. Very dry, medium bodied with a touch of tannins and salty savoury character, and a lot of life. It is excellent to approach now, but will be great until 2025.

Cultivation is organic; grapes are hand picked and fermented with natural yeasts. Fermentation is completed in wooden barriques where wine matures on its own lees without decanting. No added sulfites. The wine is produced with the same skin contact and maceration that a red wine would receive. The result is an intense copper color with dense, savory, and exotic flavors that are accompanied by the additional textural tannins that skin contact would offer in all red wines.

The name Ribolla (in Italian) stems from "ribollire", meaning to re-boil. The Bora wind in the littoral cooled the cellars before the wine must, rich in sugars, was able to fully ferment, stopping fermentation only for the wine to then "re-boil" in the spring.

Ribolla Gialla is commonly accepted as an Italian variety, but Slovenia shouldn’t be ignored. There are approximately 700 hectares of Rebula in Western Slovenia and about 400 in Northeastern Italy. This slice of Central Europe could even be considered one region, as there are no major geographical boundaries. In fact, many producers have vineyards on both sides of the border.

Originally founded in 1820, the Movia winery and estate in Brda, Slovenia had already become one of Europe’s most famous wineries in the years that followed World War II. Located in the village of Ceglo in the heart of the Brda appellation, literally a stone’s throw from the Italian border, Movia put Slovenia on the map of the world’s great wine regions in the late 1990s when the interest in wines grown in former Eastern Bloc states began to flourish.