I am always trying to show that wine is not reserved only for some special occasion and selected company and that our everyday life can be more pleasant and beautiful if enriched with a glass of good wine...Wine is not to be drunk only in restaurants, but also during a family meal at home, or during a pleasant afternoon in the shade of century-old oak tree in the yard, or while we listen to favourite songs with our beloved ones... And of course, when we gather in the summer somewhere by the river side with friends to make the summer heat more bearable...

Already for a while, I have been pondering about CHARDONNIZATION - a tasting of Chardonnay wines with my friends, so that we could understand better why Chardonnay had become one of the most popular grape varieties in vineyards around the world. Taking into account the fact that the weather is still sunny and scorching, a logical choice was to gather somewhere by the river side, outdoors... And the chosen spot was the upper tip of Ada Međica island. I feel lucky because I am surrounded by a group of wonderful people who are always in the mood for new adventures, curious and open-minded for new experiences, so they were quite excited at the proposal to gather at Ada Međica island and dedicate an afternnon to HRM Chardonnay. Without any intention to turn this gathering into some elitistic event for selected audience, we just wanted to learn more about Chardonnay in a relaxed atmosphere among friends and spend a pleasant day by the river side. I was in charge of selecting wines which will be tasted...

At 16h, we gathered at the Sava river quay, in Block 44,  New Belgrade, where we took the boat which transported us to Ada Međica island. We found a wonderful spot on the beach and unpacked. I had two issues of utmost concern: not to break glasses in my rucksack (which I brought from home because it was a kind of wine culture lesson as well - even on the beach, wine doesn't deserve to be poured into plastic glasses) and not to allow the ice cubes which I also brought from home to melt down before I placed them into a water-container which will be suitable for keeping wine chilled. Thus, a little bit of improvization gave us even here at Ada Međica necessary conditions to enjoy selected wines in a proper manner.

Our group was prevailingly composed of people who love and respect good wine, who do not care much about identification of aromas, full-bodied wines, acidity, but they surely know and recognize a valuable and well-balanced wine. The preparatory actions on the beach - taking out glasses, placing bottles into water container with ice, attracted curious gaze of other people on the beach, including a few guys who were sipping cold beer.

The goal of this tasting was to show how rather a neutral grape variety such as Chardonnay could bring out wines with entirely different character depending on regions where the grapes were grown. Also, I wanted to give them opportunity to compare Chardonnay from Serbian vineyards and Chardonnay wines from some other countries.

The first wine which we opened was  Chardonnay from its original habitat - Burgundy, more precisely from Chablis. Already in  19th century, wines from Chablis were transported by river to Paris where they gained great popularity. Thanks to limestone clay dotted with prehistoric oyster-shell fossils, Chablis wine is characterized by unique mineral character and recognizable flintiness. On this occasion, we opened a bottle of Lamblin & Fils Chablis 2010. This wine immediately brought positive reactions, as well as great deal of surprise among those who tasted minerality of a wine for the first time , although this wine is still young, so mineral notes are also accompanied with rich citrus aromas. In this case, a decent representative of mineral Chardonnay which will show its full complexity and features after additional 2-3 years of aging.

Then followed a wine which I had brought from wine festival Vince Balaton 2012. Kertesz Winery from region Etyek-Buda takes great pride in its Kertesz Csaladi Pinceszet Chardonnay 2010 - light green, with citrus aromas on the nose. Wonderfully balanced acidity, medium-bodied wine - it reminds of Californian style wines with ripe fruity profile. Anyhow, it is worth mentioning that in the Middle Ages, Serbian refugees fled from the Turksih conquerors and settled in this region, thus bringing the culture of growing red grape varieties. Thus, Kadarka from this region gained reputation across Europe. Nowadays, Etyek-Buda region predominantly hosts white varieties with 784 hectares of Welschriesling vineyards and 261 hectares of Chardonnay vineyards.

From Hungary, we proceeded to the south and reached Mt. Fruška Gora. In Serbia, when you say Chardonnay, most people think of Kovačević winery from Irig. Kovačević Chardonnay 2011 impressed particularly female members of our group who loved this wine's rich aromas of melon, distinct aromas and complexity of taste.

Afterwards, two barrique Chardonnays followed. Luis Felipe Edwards Gran Reserva Chardonnay 2011 came from Casablanca Valley in Chile in all its splendour. This valley, 18km away from the sea, suffers from somewhat cooler climate owing to influences of the sea and cold mountain winds. For that reason, it is not uncommon that frosts destroy entire harvest, so vinegrowers are attempting every year to outplay nature in order to get wine from this region. And now we had opportunity to taste in a glass the outcome of this battle between nature and vinegrowers. Barrique Chardonnay is obtained from 15%wine which aged in new French oak barrique barrels, whilst the remaining portion of wine aged in used barrique barrels. We were pleasantly surprised by elegant, complex aromas of citrus, pineapple and subtle note of honey.

After Chilean barrique Chardonnay, we wanted to compare it with domestic counterpart from Šumadija - barrique Chardonnay Radovanović Chardonnay Selekcija Barrique 2010 from Radovanović Cellar (Krnjevo). This wine bears the title Selekcija because the grapes were picked from the best vineyards. Exquisite extractive wine, full-bodied and rounded, with pleasant acids which contribute to wine's freshness and length. In the mouth, there is a subtle game of ripe fruit aromas,  with flowery character of aromas on the nose accompanied with vanilla notes.

And for the grand finale of this pleasant afternoon, we enjoyed Kovačević sparkling wine (varietal composition: 85% Chardonnay and 15% Rheinriesling) produced using the methode traditionelle with distinct fruity aromas and fresh finish.

Of course, in order to entertain ourselves, we organized wine evaluation. Based on our sample group, we wanted to check the affinity and expectations of an average Serbian wine consumer when it comes to Chardonnay wines.

Definitely, the most popular wine at this tasting was Chablis (now we can argue whether it is because of these mineral notes which made it different from any other wine, so it stuck in memory of all present who evaluated the wines, or it is because of renowned name so everyone picked a famous name with good reputation). The second and third place were taken by barrique Chardonnays - Radovanović Chardonnay Selekcija Barrique won an excellent second place, followed by the Chilean. This just confirms that Serbian market prefers barrique wines, and this tendency switched from red wines onto white wines as well. Also, this evaluation confirmed that Serbian wines can compete successfully against global wine-regions. They are followed by Kovačević Chardonnay who appealed to us owing to its distinctly fruity character. Hungarian Chardonnay didn't leave the audience  impressed this time, so it scored  last on the rank list... And needless to say, we didn't evaluate Kovačević sparkling wine...



Here I want to thank Aleksandra, Suki, Ivana, Zoki, Tamara and Anči, whilst  Tamara, Anči and Ivana deserve praise  for their great photos from Ada Međica island... And then, we have to invite you, to summon your friends, pick wines of your preference and let yourself to a magic of discovery... Cheers!

 

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