 That's what we're going to talk about in this video. Oh, welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel, a show that helps you drink adventurously so you can expand your palate, expand your mind. I'm your host, Matthew Horkey. Today I'm going to show you one of my favorite grapes from this region and the different types of wines it can make. And that's none other than Rebola Giella, also known in Slovenia as Rebola. Rebola Giella Rebola is a white grape, comes from Frioli Venetia Giulia, Italy, and neighboring Slovenia. It's a white grape, really high in acid, and in Frioli Venetia Giulia's history, you know, it's a grape that fell out of fashion for a while as Chardonnay, some of the young blunks from international grapes kind of took their hold there. But in the recent years, obviously, it's got it's got its renaissance. There's a lot of exciting producers making really fine wines out of it, both in Italy and in Slovenia. I can remember the first time I tasted it, it was actually in Armenia. We've earned a fine dining restaurant in Armenia and my friend bought it. And I remember he just bought it, put it in the glass and he said, once you have this grape, you'll never forget it. Fast forward about five years later and I know that I'm starting to become very familiar with the grape tasting examples from both Italy and Slovenia and even California, for that matter. It's a grape that gets me really excited. And that's why I wanted to show it to you today. Reboleggiale in Italian means yellow reboil. Basically, in the past, it's a grape where fermentations, you know, stopped during the winter and started again in the spring. That's why they call it Rebole. There's about 400 hectares or so planted in Italy. And there's actually more in neighboring Slovenia where it goes as Rebole. And those are the types of wines we're going to taste here today. You're only going to find it in generally in two regions in Slovenia, Garniška Borde, Berda and Vipava. You'll find a little bit in Kras in Slovenia, but Garniška Borde and Vipava, we're going to find the majority of the plantings. That whole stretch, the border when you go up from Croatian Istria, the border of Slovenia, Italy is one of the more soulful areas that I've been to. Fine wines, rustic but delicious food, beautiful scenery. You can see how it helps in the background. You have the sea, you have rolling hills, steep vineyards. It probably also helps my favorite novel, Farewell to Arms, takes place in that. So I think I'm being a little bit subjective. I never really know whether to refer to it as Italian or Slovenian. There's actually more plantings in Slovenia. Also, on that border is almost one continuous region. There's just a political border. There's no real geographic border right there between Northeast Italy and Slovenia. So without further ado, let's get into some wines. There are some marvelous Italian examples being made as well, especially those from Gravner, Radokon, Periscos, I like very much. Miani, Jermany's are some great wines, but today it's all about Slovenian wine. It's a white grape with high acids. You can make everything from sparkling to classic, barrel fermented whites all the way up to macerated whites, orange wines, amber wines, funky wines, and even sweet wines. And I have a whole range of these examples from Slovenia. These represent some of the best examples in Slovenia, some of the best producers actually. That's why I wanted to make the video and share it with you. See which style is right for your palate. When it comes to Ribula, especially Ribula that sees skin contact, I like to use a little bit of bigger glasses as a burgundy Pinot Noir glass, get more of those floral aromas. I think this is the best glass for it. But let's get started with sparkling wine. A lot of producers are making sparkling wine out of Ribula. I really, I'm not always a fan, but we're going to see with this guy right here. This is the Emeryn Rea Brut Natour from Gariske Berda. This is not vintage, half Chardonnay, half Ribula. This is the only wine in my lineup today that is not 100% Ribula. Like I said, the grape has high acid, so it can make sparkling wine. This is made in the champagne method. Really, really impressive. Maybe I have to change my mind. Well, I get like yogurt, some of these kind of natural gas type aromas, white flour, white pear. Not quite champagne-y flavors, but definitely more of a complex sparkler. We're not thinking just a simple prosecco here. Really good sharpness of the, well, might change my mind on Ribula as a sparkling wine. Really nice effort, especially that's the holiday season. You want to open bubbles. Maybe you don't want to spend $40, $50, $60, $100 on champagne. You get sparklers from different parts of the world. They can be like this. They can be fantastic value. I think this is actually really good. I think it's a wine that retails maybe for about 15 bucks in Europe. I think it works locally available. Nice stuff. So that's the sparkling. Next, we have the more classically styled wines. Some people don't want to make the jump to orange, macerated amber wines. That's actually what Western Slovenia is known for within the wine world. But some people want to drink classical white wines. And Ribula can make this. We have a couple of excellent examples. We have the Jacančić-Carolina Ribula. I think this is the only second or third vintage of this wine. And also the Eddie Simčić-Ribula, which these two are barrel fermented, big body. Think of almost more of kind of like a high acid, a higher acid type of barrel fermented chardonnay in terms of flavor, good leaves contact. This is a great place to start. If you don't want to get too extreme, you want to introduce yourself to the grape. We also have one here that only seems stainless steel. This is the Marjančić-Ribula Classic 2019. This is a producer that makes three lines of wines. Classic, selection, and Apoka or Grand Cru. This is the basic one. I think it retails for around under 10 bucks in Europe. I think abroad in the U.S., more like 20. By the way, I'm accessing all these wines with my Coravin Model 6. This is one of our partners. We do have a discount code for 10% off all systems accessories. I'll leave that in the description box below because this makes a great gift for wine nerds. It's a simple white wine made in stainless steel. Really green. Almost this kind of has kind of a so many unblanky herbal-ness to it. You still get the white flour, white flesh fruits, but there's a little bit of a tanginess in the nose. Kind of like tangerine peel, lemony, crisp, clean, easy going. This is what I like about unique and exciting grapes. Maybe you want to introduce something to somebody that wants to play a little bit safe. This has enough fruit, enough zestiness, enough crispiness to keep most pouts happy, but it has a little bit of mineral and flintiness to maybe intrigue some more experience. Wine drinkers at your table. I think this is a really good start, especially if you want to know this grape a little bit better. We're going to move on to some macerated orange wines, amber wines. They're all the rage right now. Revola makes fantastic. There's producers making a light maceration. What I mean by that is the skins stay in contact with the juice only for a few days. This is the Mariam Sipchich Revola Apoka 2017. It's one of the skins I think for 16 days. This is the perfect, the perfect bridge between somebody that's drinking classically styled, fine, barrel fermented whites, but wants to kind of maybe get an orange wine. I think this is a good, this is a really good intro. This is a fantastic wine, by the way. I really like it quite a bit. But what we're going to taste today is the Stjodek Revola Upp 2016. Upp means hope in Slovenian. This is their top wine, and it just won a platinum medal at De Canter World Wine Awards. So I'm excited to try this. I think it's only the second vintage they made it. I had 2013 last time, which was a phenomenal wine. For those of you that haven't been to the region, Griskeverda is just absolutely beautiful. Rolling hills, Alps in the background, it really looks like Piamante. Beautiful hilltop towns, some really exciting wines, and eclectic, crazy producers, which I kind of like. Let's get into this, shall we? This is a macerated for just, I think, I believe just a few days, then barrel fermented and big cask. This is really nice. Perfect, perfect infusion of wood. You're going to think some white apricot type notes, pomelo, even. Pomelo, like those big citrus fruits. Just the slight kiss of a, but really, really nicely done. Kind of like a lime-iness to it. Really complex wine that I think can age too. Rich, full body. Well, wines like this, also, I've had some great examples from me on any of the type. It shows that this grape doesn't always need to just be fully macerated and made into full orange wine. This is a fantastic barrel fermented white. It has a city that's not razor sharp, it's not cutting my gums, but it's prickly, it's tingling all the way through. I'm still tasting this wine. Wow. Sturic big ups to you on that one. Next, we're going to move into funky wines. These are type of wines that you're going to want to bring to hardcore wine geeks. You really have to know this style of wine to appreciate. Otherwise, you might get turned off by it a little bit. Some crazy stuff here. I have the Movia Lunar 8 2016. This is done with the whole berries are thrown into a barrel, and then they just let them burst in ferment spontaneously, and then bottles it under a specific moon cycle has sediment. That's why it comes in a one liter bottle. You have to decant it off and leave about this much wine. I've had some incredible experiences with this wine. I think the first time I had this was on my birthday years and years ago, and it just blew everybody at the table away. Another one. This is a super funky wine. This is the Steck Art Philippe. This is ruled a macerated and aged in the barrel for a couple of years. Really cool wine. This is the type of wine that you're going to see, you know, trendy wine bars all around the world. But what we're going to taste today is the Yink by Christina Mervich. This is the Rebula 2010. Long time emaceration. I think close to a month. Age in the barrel and then age in the bottle for a long time. This is 2010. She is a wizard and a seller. One of my favorite producers from the Vipava Valley. Wow. So with these macerated wines, you're going to get a deeper darker color. Obviously, this is like the amber gemstone. When you have great macerated wines, to me, they almost taste like a fine red. Pretty darn close. Like this, this could be, this could be taken as an aged red and a blind tasting. Oh, this has notes of, you know, kind of toffee. Oh my gosh. Dried, dried tangerine peel. Somebody might even think it's dried red bears. Something like a dry sour cherry type deal. Earth, coffee, fall leaves. Super complex. The leathery wine with mouth-filling tannins. This is really, really good stuff. This is someone that's going to like aged wines. I can also see people that are drinking like bourbons, whiskies. You get that type of flavor or going to like that as well. Every vintage of this Rebula, I've really enjoyed. Next up is Rebula's specialty wines with heavy maceration. I'm talking definitely, definitely one month, even several months. I have a couple of examples here. First is the Patrick Simchich Moya Rebula selection. Brand new producer reached out to me. I was pretty impressed with this. I've never heard of this producer before. Macerated for about a month in concrete. Really nice stuff. Going to get more mouth-filling tannins. But it doesn't get away from the floral aromas that Rebula provides. But this is what we're going to taste today. This is the Gorilla Extreme M4 2018. This is Rebula Giella. Macerated, fermented and M4 Terracotta vessels for a whopping six months. This is the second vintage I'm going to be having of this wine. I had the 16, I think that was the first vintage they ever made. So let's see if I can follow up with another good effort here. This is another producer, brand, fairly new producer, Biodynamic. And you're going to see a lot of that in Slovenia. A lot of organic, biodynamic producers. Minimal intervention, natural wines. That's why I think the country, especially Western Slovenia, is doing a good job of carving a real niche for themselves. Not making cheap wines, but really fine wines that are age-worthy, biodynamic, minimal intervention, that type of deal, which is definitely a hot thing right now as people want to be drinking more responsibly. So this wine, you're definitely going to see more cloudiness. You can see some of these wines are not fine, not filtered. Now, really pretty wine. Fresher, obviously, than something we just add. When I smell great Rebula, a great macerated Malvasia, Starscope for that matter, I think of running through a field when dandelions, a lot of yellow flowers are blooming. Lemon, kind of like a raw orange when it... If you've had real orange juice before from somebody's garden, maybe you live in Florida, somewhere tropical, where it's not all the way sweeten yet, that's kind of what this smells like. But the floral notes really come out tangy. So much citrus-like acidity. It's cool because the tans here can be substantial, but the acidity kind of wipes them away clean. It gives us a really refreshing type of feel. The last style is sweet wines. And yes, Rebula Giella, Rebula has so much acidity that it can make good sweet wines. This is the first vintage of this wine producer I love very much. You can see Arriada 2015 made like a Vincento. So we're going to have this golden color also with the barrel aging. I'm super excited to try this. By the way, a little rant on sweet wines. I think sweet wines are just really the most magical transformation from grape into wine. You got to think of hundreds and hundreds of years ago, everybody, sweet wines were all the rage because sugar wasn't ubiquitous. The only time you were having sweet things was fresh, fresh picked fruits, during the harvest time, sweet wines. It's not like today where you have Coca-Cola, you have Pepsi, you have all this stuff filled with sugar. And just sweet wines are falling out of fashion. And it's really unfortunate because I just love them. Nice golden color, as you can see right here. You have some savory notes, some leather, some kind of toffee. But what really stands out here still is Robula. And what I mean by that, you still get the yellow flower-type notes. The lemon jumps out at thick viscous in the glass. Good sweet wines are just so complex. And that's what's going on here. So many different layers of flavor. It's like, oh, there's fruit, there's leather, there's toffee, there's coffee, there's some white pepper. Really, really nice. And what's great about great sweet wines is they'll be really sweet. We all like sweet things, but they should have enough acidity to kind of wipe the palate clean. So it doesn't feel like you have a big chunk of a big cup of maple syrup in your mouth. That's what you're going to get for this. Let me know in the comments section below, are you drinking Slovenian wines? Do you like Robula Gela? Do you prefer Slovenian Robula? Have you had any of these producers before? Let me know in the comments below. And I will see you soon. 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.