Vina Albiana Wines

Albiana Dolensjska Brut 12% Zelo suho. This ‘method traditional’ sparkling wine is made from 70% Chardonnay and 30% Kraljevina (the latter used for neutral flavors and high acids). Kept on lees for 22 months, the wine offers up yeasty, slightly toasty aromas. It’s a nice, clean bubbly with a lively mousse. 16/20

Albiana Cviček 2018 10% (low alcohol is intentional) Cviček (pronounced zVee-check) is their mainstay traditional wine for everyday use. Unusual for this style, theirs is a co-fermented blend of red and white grapes: 56% Zamentna Crinina, 18% Laski Rizling, 7%Ranfol, 9% Kdraljevina, 7% Modra Frankinja, 3% Zeleni Silvanec. It has lovely, rose-like red fruit aromas. In the mouth its fruity, softly rounded, showing quite good complexity of fruit and nice balancing of acidity to fruit. Dry at under 4gms residual sugar, it has very low sulphur addition. A higher quality example of Cviček. 15/20

Albiana Zeleni Slvanec (Silvaner Riesling) 2017 14% Silvaner can be a bit boring, but not this one. Quite floral with fresh green flower stem aromas, lead into a dense, concentrated texture with high acidity to balance. No hint of highish alcohol on the nose. Knocks the spots off most German Silvaners. 16.5/20

Albiana Chardonnay 2017 14% This a brightly lit, unwooded Chardonnay style full of fruity, grapy, apply fresh aromas, nicely textured with a clean fresh finish. You can feel alcohol in the mouth, but not smell it. 15.5/20

Albiana Sauvignon Blanc 2018 13% Albiana leave Sauvignon alone to grow in its own, shading itself as it wants, seeking out the coolest, more elevated part of the vineyard where exposure loses sun earlier in the day than elsewhere. Initially closed down with reductive smoky, flinty aromas, after airing it develops gooseberry, boxwood and green flower stem notes, rather than tropical or grapefruit characters. Flavors lean toward fresh green beans and gooseberries carried in a full body, cut through with refreshing acidity. 16.5/20

Albiana Alto Modra Frankinja (Blaufrankisch) 2016 This is a special selection from a higher altitude single vineyard that is matured in 2,500 litre Slavonian oak barrels then moved to smaller barriques and then matured a further two years in bottle. Toasty, roasted meat aromas blend with red and black fruit notes. Textures lead with a silky entry full of plum/red fruit flavors and leaves with fine dusty tannins. No evidence of oak flavors or tannins. 17/20

Albiniana Modra Frankinja (Blaufrankisch) 2017 12.5% Leading with big, brambly blackberry & mulberry aromas and similar flavors. Both nicely weighted and concentrated in the mouth, it’s clean, continuous and persistence. Perfectly structured with excellent acidity and a finely tuned, tannin balance, although still quite young it promises more in future. 17.5/20