Roka from Liam & Sinéad Cabot

Roka from Liam & Sinéad Cabot

Sinéad & Liam amongst the vines.

I have been writing about Roka, the Slovenian wines made by Irish couple Sinéad & Liam Cabot, for the last year or so. Earlier this year, I visited the ‘winery’ – a the garage underneath their house. True garagistes! See my blog of 9^th July. Their wines also feature in my latest wine guide Wilson on Wine 2017.

Good to see then that Tamlyn Currin, on jancisrobinson.com, gives two of their wines, the Furmint and Blaufränkisch, scores of 17/20, higher than many top Bordeaux, Burgundy and other fine wines. The Laski Riesling gets 16.5/20.

Her notes are as follows:

Roka Furmint 2015

Riesling-like elegance, focus and rapier intensity on the nose. Pickled lime and ginger. Such a stunning depth of flavour that the hair on my arms stood up when I first tasted this. Salty and lime and wax and lanolin with the sweet-tang vibrancy of apricots picked straight off the tree. A little hint of green fig, and the ginger-root warmth (but not alcoholic heat) prickling through the palate. Rounded but so precise and with razor-edge definition. Cardamom-spiked lime peel lingers on the finish for a long time. (TC)

Roka Blaufrankisch 2015

Beautifully soft black-cherry and pot-pourri nose, so soft and lovely that you want to rub your cheek against it – if red velvet has a smell, this is it. Wonderful juicy intensity that explodes in the mouth with just a smoky hint of star anise and clove. Then a little crescendo of real biting spiciness – chilli and ginger and Szechuan pepper. Fine, tight, glossy tannins that fit the fruit like a second skin. Absolutely delicious. (TC)

Hats off to Liam & Sinéad!  All this for a mere €16.99 a bottle from Cabot & Co, Westport; No.1 Pery Square, Limerick; Grapevine, Dalkey; 64wine, Glasthule.