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Kabaj “San Lurinz” méthode traditionnelle NV |
| We are pleased to welcome our old friend, Slovenian winemaker Jean Michel Morel, of the Kabaj Winery for a tasting of five of his wines this Wednesday. You will nearly always find bottles of Kabaj’s skin-contact rebula on our shelves, and when you don’t, it’s likely because they’re sold out for the current vintage. We dig Jean Michel’s rebula for its balance and purity—thirty days on the skins, giving the resulting wine a seductive savoriness and a firm but not too bit of grip without turning falling into the pit of the tannin monster. Even thinking about this wine makes me hungry; as Jean Michel will explain it’s best to drink his wines with food, so we’ve made a traditional Slovenian jota for your delectation. Kabaj (“ka-bye”) is often mispronounced as “cabbage,” so we thought it appropriate to make a cabbage dish with which to try his wines; a vegetarian one, replete with mellow, fermented cabbage, garlic (lots), smoked paprika, and cannellini beans. We’ll be tasting Jean Michel’s rebula, three other orange wines he makes, his beautifully rendered cabernet franc, and magnums of his dry méthode traditionnelle sparkling wine.
When Jean Michel and I first crossed paths, over ten years ago, I was happy to finally put a face to his wines, as I’d worked with them without having any idea of his appearance or vibe. At that time, he presented himself as an affable fellow, serious but with a quick laugh, bearing a slightly grizzled mien that could be mistaken for a junior high wood shop teacher. Fast forward a few years and add in a pandemic, and my first question (unvoiced) was, “…dude, did you just come from Burning Man?” Jean Michel is now letting his freak flag fly high, and we’re here for it. |