Oszkar Maurer - 'babba', Subotica, Serbia (NV)

TASTING NOTES

Layers of honeyed notes, candied orange peel, warm spices, and vibrant acidity, all framed by a saline, nutty, solera-like character. Like a top-tier dry Szamorodni with great richness.

A Solera orange wine, a rarity but signature in Maurer’s style. The initial fermentation is sparked by botrytized Furmint and Riesling 2020. Subsequent fermentations are driven by Mézes Fehér 2021 and Muscat 2021 musts, followed by a third fermentation with Weslchriesling 2022 from the esteemed Fodor plot. 

Oszkár is a 4th generation winemaker whose family settled during the 19th century in the southern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, most of which is part of Serbia today. He farms a total of 16 acres in two distinct terroirs of the country; 6 acres are located in Subotica, right on the Serbian-Hungarian border where very old vines of local varieties thrive on sandy soils.

The other 10 acres are farmed just south in the historic region of Syrmia on the slopes of the Fruška Gora Mountain, which faces the Danube river and was once, millions of years ago, an Island in the Pannonian sea - a near untouched natural land made of volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Oszkár, a pioneer of Serbia’s natural wine scene, works in the vineyard without any use of chemicals and guides his wines in the cellar without intervening too much, only old barrels and one racking at bottling.