Recently at Le Bistro, with a consommé from ox tail and Provence version of mussels in sauce, we had four or five glasses of Ilok Traminer, more commonly on wine lists of the best restaurants. This is certainly good: dry Traminers from Ilok Cellars are among the noblest, most original and understandably most aromatic wines of Slavonia and Danube Region. Both the wine form 2015 we had in the Esplanade and the 2016 version we opened at home, are equally intoxicating, oily and simply bursting with aromas of roses and overly ripe yellow fruits.
Superior Traminer 2016 is somewhat fresher than the wines from the previous harvest, so it can be consumed in larger quantities. And while Traminer, the long-time emblem of the Ilok Cellars, is expected to yield first-rate results, Chardonnay from the superior line of Ilok Cellars quite surprised us. Firstly, Croatia does not have enough good Chardonnays; we can think of Cattunar, Naprta’s Solum, classic Korak Sur Lie, Krauthaker Rosenberg and Belje superior. And the list pretty much ends there. Secondly, Ilok Cellars have not focused on Chardonnay before.
Superior Chardonnay 2016 is an excellent wine with plenty of freshness, some minerality and with very pure aromas of ripe peaches, apples and field flowers, with optimal creaminess. The wine is rounded, elegant, of medium to large body, with an unusually long taste. Along with Graševina, this is the most successful gastro wine from Ilok Cellars.
