An outstanding white from North Macedonia that represents tremendous value for the money…
Name: Temjanika Desire
Vintage: 2017
Producer: Château Sopot
Region/Country: Vardar Valley, Central Region (Povardarje), North Macedonia
Grape Varietal(s): Temjanika – also knows as Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains
Alcohol Level: 13%
Consumed: At a dinner party with friends
Recommended By: Purchased it at a grocery store in Skopje, North Macedonia
Cost: $5.45 CAD
Bottle Presentation: Clean, neatly designed with an attractive combination of dark turquoise and silver.
Appearance: Clear, medium lemon
Nose: Clean, medium-pronounced nose, with ripe tangerine, very ripe Bartlett pear, ripe apricot, chalk, and floral notes.
Palate: Off-dry, with a medium-full body, medium-high acidity, and medium-high intensity. Prominent flavours included sweet lemons, ripe tangerines, white flowers, and chalk.
Finish: A medium-long finish comprised of ripe citrus fruit and floral notes.
Overall Impressions: A tremendous white wine made from a lesser-known varietal (or should we say, a lesser-available varietal, at least in this part of the world). For us, this wine ticked all the boxes in terms of quality, with fantastic balance, integration, and mouthfeel. Although the wine is described as “semi-sweet” on the bottle, we’d consider it off-dry. We enjoyed sipping this offering on its own, but it also paired very well with an array of foods. It went beautifully with a savoury Belgian pea soup, as well as dessert crêpes stuffed with chocolate and fruit. We rarely have access to North Macedonian wines, but based on this white, which we picked off a shelf at a local Skopje grocery store, by the way, we’ll definitely be tasting more, if we can get our hands on some. At $5.45 CAD, we have yet to find a better valued wine.
Rating: 94/100
E-Wine rating: 4.5/5 – We would purchase six bottles of this wine, some to drink now and some to enjoy during the summer months.
Value: 5/5