Avia Pinot Noir 2008

 One to the great benefits I get from having a son who orders the wine for his bar is that when he places his weekly order he always adds in a new wine for me and my friends to try when we stop by every Friday after work. The one set back is that he tries to find the cheapest wines his distributor carries and often fails to impress. However, there are times he opens a gem.  This past Friday was one of the better selections he ever came up with and it came from a region I would have never suspected of producing this quality of wine and for less than $5 per bottle.  The region: Slovenia. The wine: Avia Pinot Noir 2008.

Aromas were light berry, nothing special or should I say nothing to make me believe this was any thing different than most $5 wines.  My first sip was better than I expected.  Light tannins, light acidity with a pleasant fruitful mouth feel.  A few more sips and I was beginning to enjoy this wine immensely.  The wine was smooth with taste of strawberry and some blackberry and a small hint of rose petal. The finish was a little short, but satisfying.  I ordered a chicken quesadilla, but left off the jalapenos this time in order to get more of the cheese flavor and less of the hot spicy pepper.  I think that made for a much better match.  I'm going to try this wine again next week with a charbroiled sword fish.
I found the wine online for $4, but I will have my son order a few for the bar,  Hopefully I'll get a family discount on a few bottles.  The Avia Pinot Noir at it's low price is much better than many I've tasted at 4 or 5 time the price.

Slovenia is bordered on the North by Austria, on the South by Croatia, on the West by Italy and in the East by Hungary.

Avia Wines, a nationally known and successful line of varietal wines, is marketed by Laureat Imports Company in the United States under the ownership of The Goriska Brda Wine Cellar.
Vinska Klet Goriska Brda is a 700 member co-operative and its cellar was built in 1957. Brda means "hills" in Slovenian.  They produce high quality wines as well as sparkling wines.  Their most popular wines are Bagueri, Traviata and Avia Wines. The wines are bottled in Dobrovo, Slovenia, which is about 20 miles from Trieste, Italy, near the Adriatic Sea.  Avia wines are the largest selling wines from Eastern Europe sold in the United States.
With retirement lurking in the near future, I am probably going to have to get use to more $5 wines when the time comes.  Good to know there are wines, with this quality, like Avia available.  Just may start stocking up now.