Strekov 1075 Fred X NV 750ml

Zsolti’s uber-popular everyday red wine, a non-vintage blend of varieties typical for his area – Alibernet for structure, Dunaj for fruit, and Portugieser for freshness. "Little Fred" in 375ml bottles. Grapes: blend of Alibernet (a cross between Alicante Henri Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon), Dunaj (cross of Blauer Potugieser and Sankt Laurent), Portugieser – proportions vary according to each release Vineyards: Clay Loam, Limestone, marine sediments. A blend of different plots, all farmed organically by Zsolti himself. Cellar: Grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed. Fred is always a non-vintage blend of wines fermented in open casks with regular gentle stirring by hand, and then aged in old oak for various amounts of time, each variety separately. Native yeast only. Once blended, it’s bottled by gravity, under crown cap to preserve its freshness. Unfined, unfiltered, zero addition of sulfur. The current X (tenth) edition consists of Alibernet 2021 (aged 15 months in old barrels), Alibernet 2022, Dunaj 2022 and Portugieser 2022, bottled at the beginning of February 2023. Personality: funky, earthy yet with fresh fruit, incredibly congenial. As Zsolti says, the F in the name stands for “friendly, fresh, but also f* good red” and he’s 100% correct on all accounts.