The 2005 Chardonnay Ice Wine and the 2006 Rhine Riesling (elected harvest of dried berries) won Decanter gold medals in 2008. The number of gold medals doubled the following year. Gold-medal winners included the 2006 Pinot Gris, as well as the 2007 Rhine Riesling, Château Bezanec Chardonnay and Cuvée (60% Pinot Gris, with 20% each of Pinot Blanc and Chardonnay).
Harvest on Valentine's Day
No gold medals were won at the 2010 competition, but silver medals went to the 2008 Pinot Blanc Ice Wine and the Château Bezanec Cuvée Valentino Ice Wine, made from grapes harvested on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2009. Grapes for the Chardonnay Valentino Ice Wine, which also won silver, were harvested at the same time. Boris was not disappointed by the fact that he missed out on the top award.
Now I know what kind of wines to send to win gold, Boris said during a gathering at the winery in the summer of 2010. At the 2011 Decanter awards, he proved he really did know. A blend of Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, an ice wine from the 2009 vintage, was named the best sweet white wine in Central and Eastern Europe, and he also won two silver medals and a bronze. He secured four more Decanter awards in 2012 and five in 2013. While there was no gold, the silver and bronze medals filled the wall designated for accolades in the newly renovated tasting room at the family home in Hum na Sutli.
Just 600 liters of wine from 5.000 vines
Top honors kept arriving in Hum na Sutli from London until the Decanter team came to visit. Upon seeing just how small the winery was, the luster of the medals seemed to dim somewhat. Yet, the wines remained just as excellent. The true essence of the product is illustrated by a story from early 2016, when he produced only 600 liters of wine from the grapes of 5,000 vines. He harvested the grapes on the evening of January 4th, in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius.
The law stipulates a maximum temperature of minus seven degrees, though colder is even better, explained the Croatian king of sweet wines, describing the conditions for an ice wine harvest where pickers' fingers would freeze despite wearing double gloves. Regulations also require the frozen grapes to reach a minimum of 127 degrees Oechsle, resulting in both must and wine that are as sweet as honey.
A Sweet Treat for Lovers
The difficulty of extracting juice from frozen berries is evident from the fact that pressing takes four to five hours, yielding about ten times less must than a standard harvest. These wines are bottled in containers two or three times smaller than standard bottles, yet they cost several times more. And this isn't even the latest harvest. For several years, a sweet treat for lovers was produced from grapes picked on Valentine's Day, February 14th.
Bodren Rhine Riesling Ice Wine (2015) and Bodren Chardonnay Ice Wine (2018) are currently available for purchase. At the Miva Wine Gallery, a 0.25-liter bottle of Riesling costs €50.20, while a 0.375-liter bottle of Chardonnay costs €62.80. And that is not a high price, however strange it might seem to some. The Chardonnay was awarded a perfect score of 100 points. Read more about this perfect wine here.