Nose-Heavy Dry Roughness: Dveri Pax Šipon 2009, Štajerska

Today’s Sipon, or its internationally better known Hungarian brother Furmint, comes from one of the most renowned wineries in Slovenia: Dveri Pax in Maribor region. Far better known for its crisp and subtle Sauvignon Blanc and Renski Riesling wines, I most definitely had to grab this for another autochthons adventure. Well OK, in Slovenia Sipon/Furmint might be not that overwhelmingly adventurous. What else to know about this wine: it is part of the Benedict series (standard wines for quick consumption), the grapes were cultivated on sand and loam soils in Ljutomer-Ormoz region and the aging took place in stainless steel.

The Sipon’s colour looked very vital and juvenile. A fresh green-yellow hue and a bit strawy reflection provided me with a strange but explainable desire for refreshment. Expalantion: It was more than 30 C. The nose was very subtle and intriguing. I guess it is not that easy to find a white wine in the price range well below 10 Euros with such a varying and delicately expressive bouquet like this Benedict series Sipon. The first few hours I experienced a constantly shifting potpourri of lime, grapefruit, lemon, hints of brushwood and fresh cut firs, maybe even some resin, green pepper and more and more. Some hours later and on the next day exotic fruits, slight petrol, grapefruit, pepper, lemon and earthy features made the job. Very subtle, sometimes elegant and very sniffy’ful nose! However, my palatal experience wasn’t that joyful. The taste was very clear and surly tidy, but unfortunately pretty one-dimensional, rough, rustic and a bit mean - compared to the very decent nose. I got strong, very dry and very acidic flavours of grapefruit, lemon and on the second day here and there some indefinable exotic flavours. Ok, it might have been a bit too young, because on the second day it developed a slightly more pleasing character, but anyway, that does not explain the second problem: The alcohol. It had (just) 13,5%, but it felt much more. In taste and personal body chemistry. Maybe it was the heat!?! Umm, I don't think so ...! In conclusion: Great nose and "not so great" taste. You better invest a bit more and grab for the Dveri Pax Sipon Ilovci!