2019 Ivan Pavlecic Chardonnay Sur Lie

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 92 points

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  3/22/2024 - Kronos(er) Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Ivan Pavlecic, young garagiste from Plesivica, set on a journey with a great dedication and a clear intention to produce one of the best (if not the best) aged Chardonnays in Croatia.
  And if it’s true that, “a good beginning makes a good end” there will be a lot of exiting Chards coming out of his “garage” in coming years.
  Grapes for the Ivan’s Sur Lie Chard 2019 come from a very small vineyard (0.3 hectares) where around 2000-2500 kg is harvested on average annually. Grapes are, handpicked and subjected to rigorous selection and only the best berries are allowed to be turned into this nectar.
  Juicy is extracted and then it goes in 300 lit, 2-3 years used (Slavonian oak) wooden barrels, where it starts alcoholic fermentation goes though the malolactic fermentation and remains ageing together with the lees for a year.
  Wine:
  Nose. Complex, multilayered with dominant tropical fruits. Pineapple, passion fruit with its characteristic sweet & tangy scent adding a tart intrigue, banana, honeysuckle, yellow stone fruits and a mint.
  Palate. Deep, clean, balanced and focused. Again, with dominant tropical fruits but wrapped and intertwined, in the same time, with nice and seductive freshness that leans more towards the candied orange zest and yellow fruit rather than to the lemony side, all this is backed up with light honey sweetness. Long and persistent, buttery and creamy finish, with Burgundian like precision, makes this wine a real pleasure to drink and a serious treat. Ready to drink, but definitely has structure and body to improve over the next 3-4 years and maybe even longer. On a par with much more expensive Château de Chamirey Mercurey 1er Cru La Mission
  This wine is a clear proof that secret of such complex but balanced aged Chards (where wood is never overpowering or dominant but only adds complexity) lays in fermentation in used wooden barrels as opposed to ageing of wines in barrels that have previously fermented in stainless steel vats. Of course, barrel fermentation and ageing on lees carries additional risks and imposes different challenges when compared with SS vat fermentation, however, resulting wines from barrel fermentation are so superior in all fields, hence it’s definitely worth pursuing that path. Ivan’s Sur Lie from 2019 is a very clear and undoubtedly right example of that philosophy.
  
  In 2019, only 2000 bottles are produced and I am afraid a very few cases are left in stock. If you are late (I’m not as I’ve secured my 4 cases already) than just wait for 2021 (2020 was not produced as Ivan was not 100% satisfied with the quality of the crop). 2021 is now called Chardonnay Barrel Fermented&Aged and is now available on the market. If you plan to visit Croatia and Plesivica, don’t miss that young man’s “garage”. If you really appreciate and have a true passion and love for aged chardonnays, you will for sure find 2019 being interesting and complex wine.

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