 Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horky. We are going to taste some minimal intervention Slovak Tokai wines today. So very interesting stuff. Before we get started, I have to apologize for the color of my face, the setting, everything. Shareen and I have went through a crazy three weeks on the road. You know, we were doing press trips in Sardinia, Hungary, Slovakia. For two and a half, three weeks changing bed every single night, tasting, visiting all these producers. So we actually are whipped and exhausted and I'm going to try to do my best to get through this. On top of that, I need a haircut. My hair looks like crap, but we're going to get through the video anyway. So we're going to talk about a couple of natural producers, quote-unquote, from Slovak Tokai. Slovak Tokai also very controversial area in terms of, in the past problems with Hungarian Tokai, there is about 10% of Tokai's area in the Slovak side. And these producers actually aren't, quote-unquote, registered to make, quote-unquote, Tokai. But they're within the region. These guys are using things like Georgian Quavery. They're making some very interesting, untraditional type wines. And I'm talking about Matush Doviak and Marien Takac. And every time, this is the second time we've been to Slovak Tokai. We always spend some time with them down in the dark damn cellars of Malaturnia. It's always a great time. And the only thing that sucks is they don't like it if we're spitting. So sometimes we have to secretly put it out to the side or drink. So let's get into some of the wines today. I'm going to taste two wines. I have had some of these wines, one of these wines before. The other one I have not. So it's going to be interesting to taste it. These two guys are also making some interesting wines in a group called Tokai Unplugged. Also with a guy named Stefan Hornik. Let me see if I'm getting that right. And Martin Danko. Yeah, that's right. So we tasted some of their wines as well. Also some very interesting, minimal intervention wines. These are very small producers. I mean, Doviak makes maybe 15,000 bottles. Vanarshtava Ukonya, which is Marien Takac's wine, makes only about 5,000 bottles. So let's get into some of the wines. And this is where I'm drinking Formant. I broke out the Formant glass, the Rideau Formant glass. Let's get started. I have to juggle here because I don't have a table. First we're tasting the Vanarshtava Ukonya Marien Takac's wine Formant Dry 2015. This is barrel fermented, barrel aged. I have to say, I have tasted this wine before. It's not my favorite wine from him. My favorite wine are his Amphora series of wines, since he makes in Georgian Quavery. He makes one called 3x3, which has all three Tokai varieties. Formant Lipovina slash Haaslevalu, that's what it's called. And Muscat Jolti, which is yellow muscat, loved that wine. He also makes a Formant Amphora. And this year, Lipovina Amphora that Sherry and I actually are crazy about. Really minimal intervention producer, works hard in the vineyard, does not use sulfur when he bottles his wines. Let's give this a go. Wow. Wow, really yellow color, 2015 Formant with age. I wasn't expecting this at all. A lot of smoke, just a touch of barrel. Get some apricots, some white flesh fruit. This is quite complex. Wow, I'm actually pretty impressed. I've been okay with this wine in the past, but right now it's actually showing really, really well. Some lemon, let's give it a go. Pretty darn good and complex Formant. Around full bodied Haaslevalu. I have to say I'm very impressed with this wine right now, how it's showing. I've had about three or four times this exact vintage. Right now, that's the cool thing about wine. And you know, wine's the score. When you give a wine a score, it's not a static thing because wine changes over time. Right now I'm about 4.0 to 5 out of this. And considering the fact that I have a much more expensive dry Tokai Formant in the fridge, actually a cult one, that I am enjoying this a heck of a lot more than the other one in the fridge, I think this is pretty darn good. I might even take a little sip of this. Unless it's 3.9 out of 5, it doesn't have a super long finish like I would like, but it's very delicious, very easy to drink. You know, this guy we actually brought his 3x3M4 wine to New York City when we did a tasting with a bunch of sommeliers, a bunch of wine people. That night we were tasting 70's Napa Cab, 70's Bordeaux, some really nice Champagnes. And people stopped in their tracks when they tasted this at before. They thought it was delicious because it was a macerated white wine and orange wine. Seven months and the skins didn't have harsh tannins. Just really beautiful wine. And I think I'm going to congratulate Marty on this formant from this vintage. Very nice job. Let's move on. I got to get an opener here. The next also, I have not tasted this wine yet. This is the Vino Doviac. Let me get this out here. This is the Vino Doviac Rompash Formant 2016. This is a Petnat. Petnat, a Petalins natural. What means it's bottled before fermentation stops. So it ferments in the bottle giving kind of natural bubbles. I'm going to open this and this could be a disaster on camera because sometimes Petnat's explode all over the place. Or it might be, maybe just, maybe it's not even a big deal. Let's give this a go. Okay, so to hold the next, it's simple. Let's give this a go. This Doviac, my favorite wines, he also makes a Formant Amphora, which I adore. He makes some old school sweet Tokais as well. It's orange in color. It looks like he macerated the grapes on the skins for a little while. Let's give this a go. Almost smells like lemonade. Like sparkling lemonade. A little white, like sparkling lemonade with a little bit of green apple and yeast. You know, some people might not like that, especially conventional wine drinkers. Some people, minimal intervention crowd will be used to this. Let's give this a go. Lemonade, kind of like an oxidized bruised apple. Nice bubbles, bright acidity. You got to know what you're getting into when you drink these types of wines. Like for me, I do drink some, Sherin and I drink all types of wines. We do drink these wines from time to time. Not the most complex patinette in the world, but I think it's delicious. For me, very easily, 3.805. You know, which I thought was better is he actually made a patinette for himself with Muscat Antonelle and Blau Frankish. He only made a few bottles and he was actually not going to sell that. I hope he would because I thought that wine was delicious. I thought that wine was in like the 4.1 out of 5 reach. I thought it was outstanding. I'll put up the screen even though it doesn't have a label. This is nice. Not the most complex in the world, but a nice, juicy drink. Let me give it another go. Fans of this style are going to dig it. Well made for a patinette. And it's also got the firm, fiery acidity. So that's where you got to go. So if you make it to the era, you guys in Slovakia, the only place that you can get these wines are usually in Slovak Tokai or some specialty shops within Bratislava. Or if you're in one of the wine shows around the country, these guys are always there. You're going to see them. They're always going to be pouring drinks, having a lot of fun. You should check them out. So thanks a lot. Actually, thanks a lot, Marien and Matush for having us again. I always love seeing you guys and hopefully we'll see you soon. So check them out. Unconventional Tokai Unplugged. Guys, if you like this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel, for more exotic wine travel. I will see you at the next episode.