Warsaw. Wine Tasting Kontakt Wino & Bistro “lightness over extraction”
If you’re looking for wine tastings in Warsaw, which can expand your wine knowledge you should definitely join Terroiryści Club run by MS Piotr Pietras and his crew. It’s free of charge, but will give us access to the exciting events, conversations and community built around good wine. In May I had the pleasure to participate in the “lightness over extraction” wine tasting at Kontakt Wino & Bistro, which was the second meeting of the Club. This time we tasted light, expressive and, above all, very tasty red wines, which went a bit against the current, because "in the summer you only drink whites and bubbles”.
We’ve learned more about super interesting interpretations of less known varieties like Bastardo, Caíño Tinto, Poulsard, Sankt Laurent, Slarina, complemented with reliable Pinots and a nice surprise from the Moravian producer. All the wines we’ve tried you can find in the Terroiryści offer and Kontakt Wino & Bistro. As a Terroiryści Club Member you receive priority in making reservations for events and a club price, special prices on the day of the tasting for selected bottles and access to limited edition labels not available anywhere else in Poland.
The tasting consisted of 10 different labels:
1.Domaine des Marnes Blanches, Poulsard 2020, France – rusty red in colour, slight aromas of compote, rhubarb, some vegetal notes, cucumber, cloves with a nice red fruit on the mid palate. Price: 146 zł
2. Pax, Trousseau 2019, USA – light ruby with lovely aromas of figs and red strawberries. Nicely polished tannins with good acidity upholding the right balance. Price: 210 zł
3. Fedellos de Couto, Bastarda 2019, Spain – deep ruby colour, fruit pulp, red berries, raspberries, very exuberant on the palate and supple. After a couple minutes in the glass moving towards spruce and wet forest aromas. Price: 152 zł
4. Forjas del Salnes, Finca Genoveva Caino Tinto 2017, Spain – smoked woods aromas soar from the glass with hints of fire smoke, gamey and full on the palate with notes of cranberry on the palate. After a while the earthy aromas take over to form a very interesting mix. Price: 190 zł
5. Mac Forbes, Coldstream Pinot Noir 2017, Australia – this was the label that I found most perplexing. It felt closed and rather reductive, some hints of pepper and wild forest notes but overall I found the wine immensely difficult to read. Price: 155 zł
6. The Hermit Ram, Pinot Noir 2017, New Zealand – here I found lovely notes of red fruit, rather sweet than sour. Cherries, sweet cherries, liquorice. Very broad on the palate with elegant acidity. Price: 126 zł
7. Luli, La Rina 2020, Italy – this minor grape variety from Piedmont was definitely something new. Not overly complex, blueberries and blackberries on the nose with a hint of smokiness deep below the fruit. While the fruit was enticing the wine felt short on the palate. Price: 107 zł
8. Vino di Anna, Palmentino 2018, Italy – here I found distinctive brett aromas – horse saddle, animal sweat, medicinal notes, grill notes. Multi-layered wine with a good acidity and nicely integrated tannins. This was really interesting! Price: 97 zł
9. Nestarec, Podfuck 2018, Czech Republic – the hype in our tasting group was very obvious after the announcement that this will be our next label. This wine is as natural as it gets, no filtration or fining – the wine is pretty muddy and impenetrable. Red fruits were present from the very first sniff – strawberries and raspberries. Afterwards came a scent of a burnt tyre to slowly evolve into a vegetable garden – tomato leaves and fresh tomato pulp. Price: 175 zł
10. Pittnauer, St. Laurent 2011, Austria – aromas of coffee dominated from the gate slowly leaving space for some sour notes, sauerkraut. This wine was in a very good condition and in no fear of decline. Price: 221 zł
After the tasting we were invited to the bar, where we ordered snacks prepared by Janek Wojtalik and his team. We also had a pleasure to taste some extra bottles handpicked by Piotr. The labels that especially caught my attention were:
Terra Vita Vinum Anjou Blanc 2019, France - made from Chenin Blanc this wine was very pure and distinctive. Aromas of lemon peel and grass with nice minerality and crushed stones pointes towards Chenin Blanc. Amazing wine!
Danjou Banessy La Truffiere Blanc 2019, France – Carignan Gris. Very rounded and complex. Citrus notes and peaches, great minerality and lovely balanced body which takes you over to Burgundy. Don’t miss this label!
On that day, we could also buy at very special prices the wines left over from the SuperNatural Wine Festival charity tasting. Money from this Wroclaw event and bottle sales went entirely to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the company organizing the festival, which lost its main wine warehouse as a result of the war.