Steyer Ranina 2018 Rania (meaning early grape) is native to Steyer’s corner of Slovenia and true to its name it was harvested early in the 3rd week of August in 2018. The grape makes quite floral wine and has a touch of Muscat grape spiciness to it. Full bodied, slick texture, it has a fine clean finish, nice acidity and continuity. 15.5/20

Steyer Sauvignon Blanc 2018 13% I found this wine quite closed with neutral, mineral aromas, with a subtle hint of green fruit flavors. Again, quite closed in the mouth with tight acidity. It is very pure and Austrian-like in style: condensed, slick and pure. Needs some time in bottle to reveal more of itself. 15.5/20

Steyer Sauvignon Blanc 2017 12.5% Aromas run from ripe straw to hints of dried herbs, nettles, and a pleasing sweatiness. Creamy smooth and slick in the mouth, with mineral and juicy ripe lemon flavors and a long tapered finish. A very pure style. 17.5/20

Steyer Sauvignon Blanc 2013 12.5% Interesting maturing aromas on this wine: fresh buttered popcorn, straw, hints of aged Riesling’s toastiness… Densely textured and seamless with lovely, juicy acidity filled with greenfruit/gooseberry flavors on finish. 17/20

Steyer Sauvignon Blanc 2012 13% Spicy, floral aromas of dried herbs and coriander. Full bodied, with savory fruits and mineral flavors delivered through firm acidity. A big, edgy wine 16/20

Steyer Sauvignon Blanc Silver Mark 2018 14% This wine is fermented spontaneously with native yeasts and has been matured for 18 months in large acacia barrels. It has a wonderful New World-like nose of ultra-ripe tropical mango aromas with spirity high alcohol notes.  Full bodied and flamboyant, flavors last a long time and surprisingly, given there’s so much wild and crazy fruitiness involved, it finishes absolutely bone dry.  17/20

Steyer Diseci Traminer 2018 13.5% Macerated on its skins for 12-25 hours before fernenttiaon the wine picks up a lot of Gewurztraminer character. It opens with classic lychee/candied ginger aromas. Full bodied, fleshy and slick in the mouth its texture runs continuously through a long finish delineated with very fine skin tannins. 17/20 

Steyer Mark Cuvee Belo 2015 14.5% A blend of 50% Gewurtraminer with rest in equal parts of Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.This wine is fermented spontaneously with native yeasts and fermented in oak, both new and old, aged in oak for 2 years. The barrel treatment and blending has tempered down Gewurztraminer’s more extravagant aromas and flavors into a more subtle style, slightly floral and crisper than a pure varietal. It’s a clever blend: creamy and clean with a long, tapered, fine finish. 16.5/20

Steyer Exclusive Diseci Traminer 2015 14% Matured in a mix of small oak barriques and large acacia barrels. Opens with strong vanilla, coconut, oak derived notes quite sympathetically blended with lychee like varietal notes. Full bodied, slick, densely textured and infused with coconut/vanilla/lychee flavors driven by fine oak tannins through finish. For me this was too much about oak so didn’t grab me, however I’m willing to concede others may love it and that it could transform into something more interesting with more bottle age. 15/20

Steyer Extreme Diseci Traminer 2015 14% This wine was matured for two years on its skins creating a distinctive orange/pink color. No sulphur has been added, although ultra-low, grape created natural sulphur is around12mg. Fermented spontaneously with native yeasts the process of extended skin contact has created intense apricot pit and zesty orange skin aromas and flavors. There is an intriguing woody spiciness on the nose and its finish is bolster by firm skin tannins. Quite a different and ultra-pure approach to Gewurztraminer that offers different angles of observation. Extreme in a good way. 16.5/20  

Steyer Styer Mark Cuvee 2015 14% And unusual blend of Pinot Noir 70% and Zweigelt. Fermented spontaneously with native yeasts, its matured two years in oak. Initially opening with dusty black fruit aromas, with some spicy notes. With airing this clarifies into more fresher cleaner mulberry/blackberry aromas. Again initially in the mouth it was dominated with firm, powder-like, mid mouth tannins which after airing saw textures become much creamier and finer. Showing quite distinctive, juicy mulberry flavors and decent length of flavor. 15.5/20

Sweeter styles

Steyer Diseci Traminer 2018 13.5% This is a semi-dry with 10 grams of residual sugar. Relatively bright, subtle Gewurtraminer characters, more grapey than lychee notes. , Rounded in the mouthe with and nicely balanced acidity to check sweetness. 15.5/20 

Steyer Vaneja 2012 10% This wine is made from dried grapes individually picked between September to February and produced rarely, every 4 years or so. Aged in oak for three years it has a whopping 250gms of residual sugar. An amazingly complex aroma profile reminiscent of fresh Muscat raisins, dried and fresh apricots, treacle, marmalade and orange peel. Complex, but with a degree of lightness and brightness, aromas develop an increasing spiciness with airing. Deeply viscous and cool in the mouth, texture has a fine viscosity with pitch perfect acidity to balance and spin length forward. An exceedingly clean (no botrysis) and pure wine, difficult to achieve in wines with this level of sweetness. 19.5/20

Steyer Diseci Traminer Ice Wine 2011 10.5% Harvested from frozen, individually picked grapes in January. Full of honeyed, freshly dried apricot characters in a full bodied, syrup thick texture that is cut through with fine acidity. Very, very pure, clean finish. 18.5/20