 Grapes that cross borders? We're going to talk about it in this video. To exotic wine travel, the show that we helped you drink adventurously so you can expand your palate and expand your mind. I'm your host, Matthew Horky. Hi, I'm Sharon Tan. Welcome to the show. We are so excited. We got a Greek, a fantastic tasting lined up for you today. A lot of cool stuff going on over the last month for us. We actually just launched our Patreon account. I'll put that link in the description box. So if you like content like this, check out our page. All the backing helps us bring you better content. So thanks a lot. You ready to get into it? Let's go for it. We are going to talk about cross border varieties or in this case, one single variety. You know, the cool thing about Europe is that there's so many cultures in such a small area. And we work in a lot of regions where just because there's a political border doesn't mean there's that that means there's a distinct separation. I think the biggest example for us, so when we think of Slovenia, Italy, right in the border of Colio, Burda, Vipava, you know, a lot of guys on the Italian side, you know, ethnically are Slovenian. The Slovenians on the other side also speak Italian, right? Yeah, and grapes, they can't really identify borders, right? Since borders have changed in stricter over the years, a lot of times you find the same great variety in both sides of the borders. And also, we don't really know where is the origin of the grape. And it's probably hard to find out, right? Yeah, I mean, we see that, like you mentioned earlier, Moldova, Romania. That's another, that's another example, anything else? Of course, that's also Slovenia and Croatia. There is also Hungary and Serbia. Yeah, Hungary and a lot of its neighbors. That's what we're going to talk about today, actually. It's a producer that we like very much from northern Serbia. You want to talk about him? So that's in the Frusca Gora wine region is Dukai Sekmeister. He's ethnically Hungarian, but now he plants his vineyards in Serbia. So he, we are showing three different vineyards right now, but we're women as the main focus. He has women planted also Kadaka. Kadaka is a wine group that you can find in Serbia and Hungary and in Bulgaria. So again, it's one of those cross-border grapes. And yeah, we're going to go ahead and taste it. Oh, he also has Pinot Noir and Hash Levin Lewis, but those are more minority grapes. So you got to remember that this part of Serbia actually was, you know, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until about 1918, it became Yugoslavia, then Serbia in 92. So interesting stuff. Formant, there's some evidence that actually it shows that it potentially could be, you know, from the Serbia area, from the Balkan area, the same with Kadaka. But, you know, it's a variety that's usually thought of as a Hungarian. Yeah, but it's also planted in Croatia and Slovenia. Austria. So let's get started here. This is what wine we have here. So this is the Fulmin from a Devas, Vineyard 2016. I think it's Devas, because of the Hungarian. Yeah, I was going to say that. I think, I think you could be right. Yeah. Okay. Again, languages are sometimes difficult to know. So these wines are, these are all from 2016. All of the wines, Sea Oak, bigger white wines. I'm really excited to taste. What about the Devas, Vineyard? The Devas, Vineyard is east facing, mostly with verticoy, soy type. So that's red and black soy, which has very good water retention. On a limestone base, that's about it. You said it's supposed to be a fruitier form. Yeah, it has, it has a bit of slate as well. So this is known to be a fruitier style of this Fulmin, with better expression, early approachability. You know, when you mention that, Fulmin, dry Fulmin, especially Dry Tokai, probably the most famous, these wines a lot of times can be austere. They don't actually have a lot of fruit, can't quite neutral. The baked apple really comes out on this, really superb baked apple passion fruit. Anything else that sticks out to you? Yeah, definitely a bit limey, lemony as well for sure. But yeah, you're right. The first nose is actually towards the fruitier side. It's gone a little bit, I wouldn't say yoga, but it has a bit of this creamy, nice sweetness on the nose as well. I tasted all three of these wines last year at a show, and they're showing a lot better even today. You know, dry Fulmin can be quite acidic, like is it quite austere and hard? This is not, they think the acidity is perfectly balanced. The acidity is very integrated here, I do agree. But this is kind of like nothing sticks out, everything's in balance kind of wine, which is not common for a Fulmin. And on that note, it's not Fulmin, okay? It's Fulmin. These are really good. This is 90 point wine for me, definitely. Let's move on. Do you guys say? I am so excited about this. Oh, why? Because year after year, Karnesh is my favorite vineyard for Fulmin from him. So this is to me more mineral-like, although Koo is supposed to be the most mineral. This vineyard is interesting for a fact that I was told this has the latest harvest and it's southwest facing vineyard. So it's right next to a forest, you get some cool influence from the forest as well. It's more mineral-y for me on this note. That's what I like about this. And I think you said near the forest, I got my head, I have a little bit of pine, but I think it's just because it got in my head a little bit. But you still get the form of the baked apple, the white pear, stones, minerals, flint, anything else? Yeah, I think what is interesting about this bottle is it never crossed into the line of bin reductive. Instead, it remains very true mineral quality on the nose. And if you like that kind of wine that smells very flinty, this is exactly what you, this is the kind of wine that you would love. This wine has a tinge more complexity than this. A little bit more flinty. This is a little bit rounder, easier to do. This one's a little bit more mineral. I'm probably like 90 plus-ish. I think it's a little bit better than this one. Maybe even you could push me to go higher. I have to taste through them, you know, more but really, really good wine, right? I'm drinking it. I really, really enjoy it. And that is exactly like you said. This is round, the karnyash has a more leaner palette, more pronounced acidity. But that's what I like about it. It's kind of like hitting to a lesbian razor sharp. But the nose is just stunning. So if you like mineral-driven wine, you really like this flinty nose, right? This is a wine that you shouldn't miss if you are in Hungary or in Serbia. This wine can be found in both countries. I don't want to pour this away. It's quite good. I'm drinking through this. Really, really good. It's a stunning, stunning wine, good. Let's move on. Did you taste the koo yet? This is his most rarest vineyard. Yeah, I believe I did. I tasted it in February at a show as well. This is the koo kadarka. I have to say, sorry, kadarka. Forman, I'm thinking about because the koo kadarka is one of the top, the two best kadarkas I've ever had in my life. Let's... Wow, the koo really blows me away. This is a whole new level of mineral quality. I think it's because this has smoky nose as well. The karnyash is not so smoky as the koo. Again, if you like the silks quality, you know some of the Loa Valley wine with that very nice mineral nose, right? Oh, this wine will blow you away. These wines do remind me of Sauvignon. This style, actually. Really, really high mineral, high baked apple, a little bit of natural gas type stuff. That's what I get with Forman a lot. Let's give this... It's bigger-bodied, huh? Wow, if... Here's my opinion. I said this is more mineral, this is more fruity, and this is kind of like a mixture of the two. I would say so too, yeah. That's funny because what I was told by the winemaker is the koo is supposed to be the most mineral one, the karnyash is supposed to be the more fuller-bodied one, but I do agree with you today. Just come in between this two. So what do you like the most out of three? I think to drink right now is the karnyash, but I think this is a better wine in the long run. What do you think? I was blown away by the koo nose because of this smoky, silks nose, but to me again, once again, I fall back to karnyash because of this beautiful sharpness on the palate. Oh, I love that. I have to taste through and get more specific, but for me, all three of these wines are going to be plus 90 point plus type of wines, probably for you too, I guess. I think this one falls into 89 points, but the rest are 90 points. So basically these are all really, really good wines, high quality. So fun, right, to do a vineyard tasting like that. Yeah, and sometimes that's the thing that people should know about. It's important to ask about the differences in the vineyard. Oh, wait, I'm sorry. The last one has a lot of stones in the vineyard. So it's important to get to know the soy type. When you think about soy type, it's important to understand the water retention rate, especially important, exposition, because that really affects the quality and the expression of the wine. Really cool. We did a video like this with Pinot Noir with Castelfelder just a while ago. A lot of fun. Anything that you want to add on these type of wines? I do think that sometimes people may claim that the different vineyards, they are different because of microclimate, but from a consumer perspective, or even for us as well, sometimes we can't really tell the difference. Sure, there could be a little bit of differences, but is it like a sustainable, consistent difference? I don't know, but in this regard, after tasting several vintages of it, I think that this is true microclimate-driven, so-called terroir-driven wine. He is an organic producer, spontaneous fermentation. He makes like, for me, I never find fault in his wine. Sometimes his red wine can be a little bit too redacted, but generally, these are spectacular wines. I think so too. Check these out. Like you said, people that are liking more mineral-driven type of wines, Shen and Blanc, Rieslings, I think are going to get a kick out of dry formant, right? And he falls into the category of natural wine producers, for most people, I would say. Okay, fantastic. So guys, check it out. If you like this episode, hit the like button and... Please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Exactly why travel. Click the bell, so you know when new videos come out, and we will see you at our next episode. Hello. Thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Click the bell, so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page, where you get some behind-the-scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers. Cheers.