Naboso Ritual 2021

"A red wine of the variety Blaufrankisch" - sounds simple but says a lot.

This is a truly personal expression of the variety, hence what I understand is the nuance meant in the above description on the bottle.

The vineyard area sits over massive granite bedrock which winemaker Andrej suggests is one of the most amazing places to grow Blaufrankisch (or Frankovka in this part of the world).

The wine jumps out of the glass with the vivacoiusness and black fruit. It has the hallmark smooth tannin and earthiness of the variety but with plenty of warmth and energy owing to it's location and loving craft.

Naboso is a wine project by our friends Nadja and Andrej from the cute little village of Svaty Jur, just outside Bratislava in the Lower Carpathian mountain range. I think they are the kind of the people that just about everyone who meets them quickly considers them friends. Warm, unpretentious and welcoming into their charming home/winery/pottery workshop. Naboso is just the beginning and end of their day. They both work for other wineries across the border in Austria as "day jobs" as well as run a pottery business and a bunch of other projects. Busy is an understatement. And if these wines are just the beginning.... sheeeesh, what lies ahead is just scary... in the best way.

A feature of all of their wines (and possibly some order to their busy lives) is that all of their wines are given at least a year in barrel and 2 in bottle before release. It show's through in the absolutely alluring drinkability of all their wines.