2021 Gönc Winery "Starman", Štajerska, Slovenia

ABOUT THIS WINE

50% Chardonnay, 50% Riesling and aged for 15 months on fine lees.

Single vineyard, grapes handpicked under the morning stars. Funky native yeast, maceration done with bare hands, pressed in the moonlight. With French oak, mixed on lees with sheer will for 15 moons, and a journey to bottle with no filtration.

ABOUT THIS PRODUCER

Gönc winery is a family tradition going back to 1936, when Peter Gönc’s great grandfather built their first wine cellar and planted the vineyard around it in the small town of Dobrovnik in Slovenia. After World War II, his grandfather moved to the city Ptuj where he started working in the Ptujska Klet, or Ptuj wine cellar, as a cellar cleaner and worked his way up to head winemaker and CEO of the oldest winery in Slovenia, now known as Pullus.

Peter’s father worked at the same winery, but on the side he also planted 24 acres of vineyards to keep up the family tradition (now 28 acres total). When Peter came of age they built a new cellar in Ptuj and started Gönc again. Peter is the 4th generation of winemakers and winegrowers in the family. Farming is organic, and all the wines receive little to no added sulfites at bottling. Despite this minimal intervention, the wines are even more stable and long lasting, even once open, making them ideal for restaurants or wine bars pouring by the glass.

Fun fact: Gönc is actually a name for a barrel that they produce in Hungary, from whence the Gönc family hails, that’s 136 liters volume. The 136 dots on each bottle of their wines are in tribute to the family’s long history in the area’s wine community.