Canapés and Fizz

Planning a fancy get-together, dinner party, or the social event of the year – one thing that will certainly get the evening started is a selection of finely crafted Canapés, and if you’re really going all out, then pop open a few bottles of bubbly to enjoy alongside, this will certainly be an evening to remember.

A good Sparkling Wine to accompany your Canapés is a must, you don’t want the Sparkling Wine to overpower the small delicate delights that will be enjoyed, something soft and light will certainly offer that required effect.

The Sparkling Wine – Vinag 1847

Situated right in the centre of Maribor, the beautiful city in Slovenia, is one of the largest and oldest classical wine cellars in Europe.

This winery and winegrowing tradition of Vinag began as early as 1847 when nobleman Alojz Kriehuber from Melje begun cultivating wine and had a wine cellar built. The cellar would then combine with an even older brewery cellar after World War II, becoming the largest classic tunnel wine cellar in Central Europe, below the city centre of Maribor.

The history of the cellar has been turbulent over the years, it has survived many historical periods, changed several owners, experienced better and worse times, but at the height of its power, Vinag was one of the largest wine producers and exporters of the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

One of the biggest attractions of the Vinag wine cellar is the wine archive, which currently holds the collection of 85,000 bottles of top-quality archival wine. This special wine is suitable for opening on birthdays, anniversaries, achievements and personal success. With the help of a wine expert, you can find and buy suitable archival wine that perfectly fits your taste and represents the year that has a special meaning for you.

There is no other wine cellar of this kind in Slovenia and nobody disposes of such quantities and vintages. Inside you can discover bottles from the year 1946, which in itself carries a rich story and history.

Vinag 1847 – Kriehuber Chardonnay Brut – Tasting Notes

Aroma – “Focused on displaying its floral array, it delivers white floral, honeysuckle, yellow  floral, yellow rose petals, with notes of sweet succulent and creamy rose petals and daisies on the aroma.”

Flavour – “Creamy, silky flower display, white floral, white blossom, honeysuckle, yellow rose petals, with a yellow citrus character at the close.”

Trophy Winner of the Spring Fling Category at the Glass of Bubbly Awards 2022

Canapés with Fizz Pairings

For our Canapés, we’ve gone for selections of bite sized meats, including White Fish in the form of Cod with French mustard, Chicken with thinly sliced gherkins and Pork with sweet BBQ sauce, you don’t need an endless list of fancy ingredients to create something that both delivers in flavour and visual appeal, it certainly helped to have a selection of edible flowers from Nurtured in Norfolk to add to the colours and visual display on the tray and it even makes it more exciting, as we don’t often get to eat flowers.

The White Fish (Cod) – “The mustard is the magic ingredient here, acting as a middle ground for the Sparkling Wine and white fish to meet in harmony, lovely floral characters are added to the salty/meaty flavours from the perfectly cooked white fish, the mustard is calm in its strength, only wishing the best for the pairing, but still delivering that glorious flavour we all know and love from it, by the close it cleanses the palate, ready for the next canapé to be enjoyed.”

The Chicken – “Light and refreshing, the Sparkling Wine layers soft citrus and tropical fruit/pineapple slices, with the savoury notes returning towards the end, the gherkin holding its own throughout the pairing.”

The Pork – “The BBQ sauce enters with its sweetness, enhanced by the Sparkling Wine throughout the mid-palate, by the close the pork flavours, which had been well looked after, come into affect, giving wonderful savoury notes on close.”