1993 Movia Veliko Belo

I drank an amazing double magnum last Friday of one of my favorite white wines: Movia Veliko Belo. It was a 1993 and showed amazing richness and depth of fruit as well as freshness. The dried pineapple, mango, and mineral character was buttressed with great acidity and intensity. It had the complexity and depth of a great premier cru white Burgundy from the early 1990s such as 1990, 1991 or 1992. I scored it 95 points.

Movia is the top producer of wine in Slovenia. I have been to the winery three or four times. And Alexis Movia, the owner and winemaker, is a genius – some might even say a little crazy. Yet he makes formidable whites and reds from his vineyards on the border of Italy’s Collio. And they are all organically tended.

The Veliko Belo is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Ribolla Gialla. The wine is fermented with all the different grape types and then aged three and a half years in French oak barrels and a year in bottle before release. The wines always have an amazing depth of fruit and freshness despite the long aging, perhaps due to Alexis’ cold cellars.

It was a wonderful wine to celebrate my son’s 18th birthday at the Tuscan fish restaurant La Pineta. The photo is of my son, Jack, and the bottle with waiter.