One of those wines you don’t expect to amaze you. Firstly, only one detail seperates the Šember’s non-macarated riesling with the macareted one. The vintage letters are the key detail; MMXVII (macerated) vs. 2017 (non-macerated). Therefore, if you don’t look close enough, you could surprise yourself when the amber wine with this beautiful deep honey colour pours into your wine glass.
Now, when we got that straight, let’s jumt into the wine tasting notes;
The nose was intense with the aromas of orange peel, white flowers, lime blossom honey, ripe sweet apple and just a pinch of dried flowers, like immortelle (Helychrisum italicum). On the palate the tannins were low to medium, not very dramatic, instead – elegant and soft, wrapped around medium + acidity and nicely blended in the rich citrus – floral body. Definitely wine I would love to taste few more time in the future and keep up with it’s further developing in the bottle.
Šember winery is situated in Plešivica, around 30 km away from the capital city of Zagreb. Plešivica is a subregion of Northern Croatia or ”Croatian uplands”, the northern most region. The soil is mostly limestone and marl.
The riesling grapes come from one of the most praised Šember’s vineyard – “Vučjak”. Maceration lasted about 25 days and the maturation continued in the large wooden barrels for 2 years.
The family started to explore this particular style of riesling in 2002. With the vintage of 2011. they brought it up to a next level in terms of production. The next vintage was 2017. – the one that Nikola Šember finds as the personal favourite so far.
Learn more about Šember winery: Just 30 km from Zagreb – exciting getaway to Šember winery!
