Emerging pearl of Danube - Slovakia
On the 26th of June 2014, central European countries demonstrated their rising wine industry in Brussels. Slovakia, Hungary and Czech Republic brought to the European capital a broad portfolio of their wines. At this occasion, I had the opportunity to deliver a speech about Slovakia:
"First of all let me welcome you at this unique event which would not take place without the generous contribution of all the participating representations. I am honored that central European regions and cities were able to find a common goal and prove that through cooperation everyone can profit.
I would like to present the wines of Slovakia. I will not speak about each wine concretely or about its tasting notes. Rather my aim is to show that we can already speak of a Slovakian wine. To give you a bite of our small country.
Today, we are offering you to taste the western part of Slovakia, at the point where it touches Czech Republic to the west and Hungary to the south. Geographically this is the part encompassed by Carpathian mountains and Danube river. We generally enjoy continental climate with late spring, short but hot summers, mild sunny autumns and relatively cold winters. It rains sparingly and in the southern part, the summers can be very dry. The latitude spreads around the 48th and 49th parallel, that is similar to Burgenland or Alsace. The climate and soil types vary from north to south. Broadly speaking, as you get from the hills with light and stony soils through to Danubian plain with heavy and clay soils the character of the wine changes from crispy to mineral.
The vines were cultivated in this area already by the Celts some 2600 years ago. The oldest winemaking area spreads along the Lesser Carpathians, northeast of Bratislava. It has been a natural consequence of the proximity of Danube allowing to reach the main central European cities by river that enhanced the commercial expansion. Moreover, Bratislava used to play a key role in the Habsburg Empire.
Significant changes occurred as the Communist party seized power in 1948, when state confiscated all land estates that were larger than one tenth of a hectare per person, and turned them into collective production units. The families were allowed to keep only small parcels for their own use. At this period, the vineyard acreage doubled and the production switched to maximum quantities of simple blends.
Fortunately, after the Iron curtain was dismantled in 1989, family producers or their heirs received the confiscated vineyards back. For several reasons, the area for cultivation was largely diminished and nowadays we can count around 14 thousand hectares of vineyards (however only 10 thousand are actively used). On the other hand, the quality has been constantly rising as the yields are being kept low and the producers have already access to modern technologies. The recent success at a variety of international wine competitions (such as gold medals from AWC Vienna or Concours Mondial de Brussels) shows that Slovakian winemakers are beginning to find their place in the international wine market.
The capital of Slovakian winemaking is Pezinok, situated in Lesser Carpathians, just some 20 minutes by train north of Bratislava. This is the largest vineyard area with the highest number of active farmers. The climate is regarded as cooler but it is still warmer than comparable European districts (in Alsace or Mosel). The area of Lesser Carpathians is best suited for fresh white wines and lighter reds that are gaining popularity. The area is regularly promoted by Days of Open Cellars, festivities taking place on the same day in several smaller cities.
We are presenting three winemakers from this region, I would mention one of them. Pavelka and Son is a family owned producer with a history of five generations of winemakers. They cultivate around 50 hectares of vineyards amongst which you will find varieties such as Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Blanc or Pinot Noir. I would like to point your attention to their cuvée "Trojka" which is composed of varieties Alibernet, Dornfelder and Blau Fränkish. All of them are blue varieties typically grown in our country, even though not all of them come from the central Europe. Alibernet is a grape crossing which was created in 1950 in Odesa institute for viticulture. It was meant to be a variety giving dark tones to contribute to colour. However, as its parents were Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon, the winemakers found out that the variety is giving full bodied, dark inky and extractive wines even on its own. The aromas are reminiscent of Cabernet Sauvignon but the expression is wilder. It is said to be a real beast to deal with in the cellar as it is a challenge for the winemaker to control it. But Alibernet can reward the winemaker’s effort with a harmonious, fruit-oriented and robust character.
When coming to the south, we will reach two intertwined regions: Nitra and South Slovakia. They are dominated by the city of Nitra that has a landscape crisscrossed by rivers and small mountain ranges that provide a multitude of local climates. Nitra is known for its roses of Cabernet Sauvignon and Blau Fränkish which they celebrate by their festival of rosé wines. South Slovakian region spreads around the fertile lowlands towards Danube. It is the warmest area that provides highly matured grapes. The winemaking is dispersed in small villages around Strekov.
Amongst the three winemakers we are offering I would highlight two small producers from Trnovec and Strekov. They are both cultivating around 15 hectares with strong focus on the treatment of the vineyard.
The winemaker Strekov 1075 is inspired by the region Friuli in the north east Italy where orange wines are being produced. He is oriented on indigenous varieties such as Welshriesling, Grüner Veltliner, or Blau Fränkish. He farms organically, with old fashioned low pruning, all fermentations occur spontaneously in open vats without temperature control or additives.
Producer Trnovec is also a small family owned company. Their pride is the Pinot blanc variety which has been noted for its semi-sweet and sweet style. As it was mentioned, the west of Slovakia enjoys hot summers, but can suffer cold winters. This is an opportunity for a winemaker to prove his patience. If the vintage is generous and the winemaker lucky, he can leave the grapes in the vineyard until January. Then he has to wait for the temperature to fall bellow -7 degrees when he can pick the grapes. At this condition the water is frozen in the grapes, and the only liquid pressed out is the concentrated sweetness of the essence of grapes. This is how the ice wine is created.
Slovakia has always been a place where influences from different parts of Europe have been mingling. It is the furthest region where Romans have gone. Maybe they stopped here because the vines didn´t grow well more to the north. Anyway it seems that Slovakian winemakers are starting to be realise the known fact that a wine is created by human experience, terroir of the vineyard and the used technology. I believe there is a large potential in Slovakia and that projects aiming at sharing knowledge will bring their fruit. We are living in times when each winemaker can start building his own identity."
The text is based on: Torsten Rundqvist. Slovak Wine Country, Third Level Essay, Munskänkarna Tasting Society, 2014.
A video report of the event available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubGe3RrkO_4
