Carboniq

Carboniq is exactly the kind of wine that makes natural wine fun. It comes from the Magula family in Slovakia's Little Carpathians, near the village of Suchá, where they farm biodynamically on deep loess soils — not a region most people have on their radar, which is half the pleasure of it.

The name gives the game away: this is carbonic maceration, whole bunches sealed with CO2 and left to ferment from the inside out, pressed after a couple of weeks. The grape is Modrý Portugal — Blauer Portugieser — and the method coaxes a juicy, crunchy, Beaujolais-like character out of it. It's unfined, unfiltered and low in sulphur. Expect dark cherry and plum with a green, herbal lift, bright acidity and barely-there tannin. A genuine chillable red, made to be poured cold and drunk with pleasure rather than pondered.

Open it young and don't overthink it. Straight from the fridge, on a warm evening, it's hard to beat.

How to Serve

Serve well chilled, 11–13°C. Cold is key for a carbonic red like this; a standard glass, no decant.

Where to Drink It

Planque in Haggerston, right at home with adventurous natural bottles. Or Sager + Wilde on Hackney Road for the same low-intervention crowd.

Food Pairings

Charcuterie and a hunk of bread. It also loves a Friday-night pizza.