Shuhui Ng

9.0

Dark berries, bouquet opens up to notes of, cherries, plums, pepper, mushroom and oak. Very silky tannins, nutty, caramel, biscuit . The greatest praise I can give - for this ex Soviet Moldova wine, it tastes like a Napa cab sauv<3 — 10 months ago

barak heller hayun

9.1

second bottle from a feldstein threesome.
last year i had 2016 vintage, and now it's 2017.

2016 was probably the best sauv blanc i ever had. this comes pretty close but i reckon it lacks.

upper Galilee sauv blanc with a touch of semion (winemaker's description)

fermented with three types of yeast in burgundy barrels and stayed there for a year.


13.2% ABV

transparent greenish 👀

citrus buffet (mostly grapefruit), grass, and some flowers right out of the fridge. as it got warmer hints of apricot and peach with a memory of tropics joined the 👃

full body.
medium + acidity.

bitterness first that moves away fast to make place for the juicy citrusy buffet with a coming and going background of minerals, stone fruit and memories of tropical fruits served on a far away 🏖️ 👄

long and pleasent 🎯

this is a full body wine that's so quiet, modest and elegant. superb.


i think avi feldstein creates magic.

i have a 2015 vintage bottle of the same wine, looking forward to that.

excellent vfm (90 nis as part of a threesome).

worked wonderful with home made pizza with mushrooms, onion, feta style cheese and olives.
was terrific the next day with soviet style buckwheat with tahini and mentioned feta the next day.

great on it's own as well — 5 years ago

Adriana Fabbro

9.2

I’m kinda over Pinot Gris Ramato and then I come across a wine like this that makes me rethink everything. Yes, it has those classic notes of skin contact Pinot Gris (rose hip, red currant, candied strawberry) but it’s so fresh and clearly comes from a place — in this case the volcanic region of Hungary’s Lake Balaton — it’s flinty, with that volcanic licorice spice / allspice — and clearly from a cooler climate. The story behind the winemaker — a brave man in his 70s who has a former wine director for a Soviet Co-op, who now just wants to make good, natural wine his own way—and the label “Abeles” named for the Jewish family whose abandoned estate he found himself making wine out of before discovering an underground cellar and digging up the history of a family whose members were nearly all murdered during the Holocaust. It’s a just a great fucking wine without knowing the backstory; the backstory makes it profound. — a year ago

Randy Fuller

9.3

Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Prácser was one of the first female winemakers in Tokaj, setting up shop in the early ‘90s after Soviet troops ended their three-decade stay in Hungary’s streets. There’s more salinity in this one and a great acidity. It paired extremely well with with the tomato and liquid mozzarella caprese. — 6 years ago

Frizzle Manamana

9.1

Years back a plush monkey wearing a sombrero cradled a small acrylic painting of my own sat in a well maintained yet delicately musty loafer with a soviet hammer and sickle I'd also painted on the side was placed on my friends doorstep in the middle of the night. Shortly after my friend opened the door to quite a surprise, he was deep in the land of mushrooms, so deep he required conformation of the loafer monkeys existence. The complexity of that situation is not unlike this leathery, light, and colorful display. — 9 years ago

Martinez

9.0

My first Armenian wine. Made with Haghtanak grape, a Soviet-era hybrid between Armenian varietals and Georgian Saperavi. From vineyards in the Ararat Valley, 35 km west of Yerevan. Fermented in steel tanks and aged 7 months in Caucasian oak barrels. Dark ruby/purple color. Dark fruit, vanilla and oak on the nose. Some herbal notes. Full-bodied, big, quite bold and round on the palate. Pomegranate flavors. Tannic. Good value — 3 years ago

Bob McDonald

8.9

An interesting varietal - Saperavi is an ancient Georgian varietal which is known to be long living in the former Soviet republics where it is grown extensively. Has bobbed up here in Queensland at Ballandean Estate. Very dense ruby in colour. Aromas of plum skins and dark berry fruits extending to the palate with a savoury twist. A core of fruit which will carry this through for some years. Great experiment. Saperavi has s good future in Ballandean. — 6 years ago

Danny Golnik

9.0

Legendary Soviet drink. Brings back memories from youth :) — 8 years ago