Slovenia: Vino Gross, in Slovenian Styria
Website: https://www.vinogross.com/
Last time I visited Vino Gross I spent time in the vineyards of Haloze, and then tasted in the wine cellar. This time I was in Svečina, where Michael and Maria have built a beautiful home and tasting room. We are in Slovenian Styria here, and these wines are some of the most exciting I’ve tried in recent years: they show that you can make wine naturally and end up with something pure, long-lived and profound.
Michael explains that all the white wines (most of his production) are made the same way: maceration of maximum 2 hours, then there is settling. ‘I always look at the sediment and taste it to decide how much to take with me, but I never take all of it,’ he says. ‘But sometimes I take more, other times I take less. The racking is always my decision because it has so much influence when we do low intervention wines like we do. There are not many points where I can influence my wines this much.’
Fermentation is in large oak casks with no additions. The wines stay on gross lees for a year, and before the new vintage arrives they rack, then keep it for 6 months to a year on fine lees and then decide before bottling whether to add sulfites. 70% of their wines have been bottled with no added sulfites. ‘It is not a dogma,’ he says. ‘I put a lot of attention into deciding to work with or without sulfites.’
2022 was a hot year and then a tricky year in the cellar with the wines taking a long time to ferment, and some stuck ferments. There were some VA issues and the first stages of mouse in some of the wines, but they all came back and now Michael is so satisfied with the wines. ‘It is a vintage you can open and you can drink.’
2021 is maybe the best vintage he has had but these wines need keeping to show the potential that they have. ‘With 2021 I learned a lot,’ says Micheal. ‘The [Haloze Blanc] wine was so open. I put the wines together and bottled immediately, and after 2 or 3 weeks it was as reductive as hell. I thought it would be impossible to sell.’ He said that one component still had a bit of sugar and then it went reductive in the bottle. Now he’s learned he has to blend, then leave the wine for a while before bottling.
THE WINES
Vino Gross Maribor Blanc 2022 Slovenia
70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Laški Rizling. The appellation Maribor starts at the Austrian border and goes south to Maribor. This is where Michael’s home is. The slopes are marl, and the flats are loam, but where this wine comes from is mostly pure limestone soils. This is so bright and linear with a lovely mineral, acid line under the well defined pear, apple, lemon and lemon fruits. This is crystalline and complex with amazing precision, and some salinity on the finish. Such a beautiful, layered wine. 95/100
Vino Gross Maribor Blanc 2021
70% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Laški Rizling. Complex, taut and compact with dense but expressive citrus fruit and then some fringing pear and melon character. Has a chalky, linear detail with a complex saline twist. Such focus, but also drinkability. Very fine. 95/100
Vino Gross Haloze Blanc 2022
40% Furmint, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Laški Rizling. 10 mg/l SO2 added just before bottling. This is fresh and linear with high acidity and taut citrus fruit with a pristine quality to it. Focused, fresh and juicy, and quite complex. 93/100
Vino Gross Haloze Blanc 2021
40% Furmint, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Laški Rizling. Complex, flinty reductive nose with bright citrus fruit. The palate is electric and multidimensional with high acidity and a stony, mineral edge to the layered citrus fruit. Such purity and intensity here, and in this case the accidental reduction works really well. 95/100
Vino Gross Gorca 2022 Haloze
Furmint. ‘Gorca is more or less our business card,’ says Michael. ‘There is a lot of focus on this wine.’ It’s the wine they are best known for. It is a cru in Haloze that’s over 100 hectares, and most of their Haloze vineyards are from this cru. Wonderful aromatics of lively ripe citrus with some subtle waxy hints, and some citrus peel. The palate has bright citrus with a distinctive apple note and good acidity. Layered and textural with lovely brightness on the finish. 94/100
Vino Gross Gorca 2021 Haloze
Furmint. Complex nose of pear, melon and citrus with some ripe apple notes. The palate is powerful and complex, but has some generosity with apple and pear fruit as well as a slight salinity. This is beautiful, and has potential for further development. There’s a delicacy to the acid line. 95/100
Vino Gross Colles 2022 Haloze
Slovenia 1 selection of Sauvignon, which comes from some old 120 year old vines. It is a very distinctive selection with 1.5 g/l higher acidity than other Sauvignon material, and Michael says they are very lucky to have this: his father planted this vineyard with this selection. 2021 is still in barrel, and it had a long fermentation: in the middle it tasted awful, but it has come round, but it is not going to be bottled for a while. This is 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Opok/marl soils (almost all the Haloze wines have these soils, with some limestone – 24-35% of lime). ‘When you know the taste of Haloze it’s quite easy to understand, because the soils are all the same,’ says Michael. Maribor is much more variable. Yellow/gold in colour, this has a complex nose of lemon and pear with some ripe apple, and then a fine spiciness. The palate is precise and mineral, with amazing acidity. This is quite beautiful, with a lovely crystalline quality, high acidity, and a saline twist. So fine. 96/100
Vino Gross Korže 2022 Haloze
70% Sauvignon, 30% Furmint. 10 mg/l SO2 added at bottling. This is a parcel from Gorca. The most spectacular vineyard site they have, and it’s very steep. The Sauvignon is always the first vineyard they pick, so it is slow to start, and when the Furmint is harvested they put it on top and ferment together. This has an open nose with some honey and ripe apple. Michael says it shows a touch of oxidation character young, but then he thinks it will go reductive with time in bottle. The palate is dense, full and complex with ripe white peach and yellow plum, and then some crystalline citrus and ripe apple characters. Mouthfilling, dense and harmonious with amazing layers of flavour. Finishes long, salty and a bit tangy. 96/100
Vino Gross Korže 2021 Haloze
15% alcohol but also 8 g/l acidity and pH 3.04 – an amazing analysis. No sulfites added. 70% Sauvignon, 30% Furmint. Apple, honey and melon on the nose, with nice depth. The palate is crystalline and dense with amazing mouthfeel. Amazing density and energy with lovely complexity and depth. So beautiful and layered with great concentration, and potential for ageing although it’s drinking well already. A remarkable wine. 96/100
Vino Gross Iglič 2022 Haloze
Furmint. Part of Gorca, the part where he gets the most balanced wines. ‘I just want to sit down and drink the wine,’ says Michael. ‘I don’t want to talk about the wine any more.’ This was planted with Tokaji clones of Furmint. There’s some nice mineral reduction here with a bright acid line, and then some lovely salty lemon fruit. There’s depth and precision here, with some yellow plum notes and a lovely, multidimensional finish. Beautiful complexity. 96/100
Vino Gross Iglič 2021 Haloze
Furmint. Quite profound with a salty, mineral edge to the dense but fresh citrus fruit, and then some richer pear and apple nose. Complete, powerful, complex and with amazing acidity and the fruit is pristine, finishing saline and precise. Such length, too: this is very hard to spit. This should evolve beautifully over many years. 97/100
Vino Gross Iglič 2016 Haloze
This was the second harvest, so the vines were very young. This was sulfured after one year in barrel, and at bottling. This was the start of the Vino Gross winery, so it’s a special wine to be able to taste. Apples, pears, honey and lime, with a subtle toastiness. It’s evolving very well with some spicy detail, and just a touch of savoury character. Nice fruit and good crystalline lemony fruit on the finish. Drinking beautifully now. 94/100
Vino Gross Sveto 2021
Sveto means holy. This is Furmint. From 2016 they have made this. If everything is balance, then Michael takes a part of a cru and makes a special barrel. It’s only in the best vintages, and where he gets the feeling, so it is always different. The label is different, too. Complex nose of spice, apples and citrus peel, with some flor-like tanginess. The palate is bright with amazing energy and a beautiful linear acid line. Crystalline and fresh with beautiful lemon and green apple notes, and a tapering finish. This is profound and will last forever, I suspect. 97/100
Vino Gross Sveto 2022 (tank sample)
Furmint. Not bottled yet because Michael isn’t sure it will take the right direction yet: the wine needs time to sort itself out, even though it tastes fine right now. Complex spicy, mineral nose with flinty reduction and powerful citrus fruit. In the mouth it is powerful and intense with a powerful, vivid citrus drive, some salinity, and then a hint of spicy acidity. So intense and complex, this will probably be amazing in time. Explosive acidity. 95/100
Vino Gross Laški Risling 2021
When they have plenty of this, they make a single varietal wine in large oak casks, then stainless steel. This is the variety with the lowest acidity of their wines. This is rounded, full and generous, with ripe yellow fruits, a touch of herbiness, and some nice crystalline citrus on the finish. Expansive and enjoyable, with lovely fruit and an ease to it, but it still repays attention. 93/100
Vino Gross Renski Rizling 2022
This is true Riesling. Maribor. Pure limestone soils, 45 year old vines. This is concentrated and crystalline with nice intensity. Mouthfilling and crystalline with a lovely nervous acid line with bold lemon and lime fruit, but also some texture and finesse. 95/100
Vino Gross Renski Rizling 2021
There was some refermentation in the bottle. It was bottled with 5 g/l sugar and 30 mg/l of SO2, and even though it was stable before bottling it refermented. It’s now bone dry and clean, with some CO2. Bright and crystalline with lovely dense citrus fruit and some freshness from the acidity and the CO2. Very pure with nice fruit, and a tapering finish. If you don’t like the bubbles you can just decant a few times and they go. Lovely wine. 94/100
Vino Gross Penina Furmint Brut Nature 2018 Haloze
Base wine was 1.5 years in barrel, and this has 4 years in the bottle now. No dosage. Complex aromatics with a hint of blue cheese and dense citrus. The palate is concentrated with high acidity and a tangy acid line with nice purity and intensity. Really bold and vivid with precision and focus. 92/100
Vino Gross Modri Pinot 2022
Michael describes this as an experiment. Pinot Noir has a good tradition in the region but it got lost a bit. The climate here is good for Pinot, with long, warm autumn days. pH is 3.4 which is quite low. But he’s still not sure whether he will go on with Pinot Noir. Barrels an important part of Pinot Noir, and there are no coopers round here, and he’s nervous doing all the work and entrusting the wine to barrels, where he knows he won’t get the best ones. This is brooding and sleek on the nose with black cherries and plums. The palate is fine and well defined with good acidity under the well structured fruit. Cherries, raspberries, a bit of sour cherry on the finish. Tangy and vivid. Very satisfying and quite cerebral. 93/100
Vino Gross Haloze Noir 2022
60% Blaufränkisch and 40% Furmint. The Furmint is pressed and the already fermenting juice is added to the Blaufrankisch. The idea is to make a red wine that has immediate drinkability. Lighter red in colour, this is bright, vivid, pure and elegant with lovely red cherry and cranberry fruit, with some citrus character. Moderate tannin and good acidity. This is a really fresh, drinkable red wine with lovely personality. Very gastronomic. 94/100
Vino Gross
Gorca 43
2286 Podlehnik
hello@vinogross.com
+43 (0) 664 820 61 79
