Review of Terra Romana Wines from Romania by Nicusor Cazan

We are fortunate to have a blog post from Nicusor Cazan who has his own terrific blog in Romanian called Cazan Cu Vin (literally "Cazan With Wine"; more akin to "Cazan On Wine"). We are delighted to have his first English language post at Black Sea Wines. Here's Nicusor's post:

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A couple of days ago I was introduced by one of my good friends, to a wine enthusiast overseas. His name is Barry and he is the creator and the contributor of a wine blog named "Black Sea Wines". I found this initiative more than welcome and, because Barry invited me to write a review of a Romanian wine for his blog, here is my very first post in English.

And what other better opportunity to share than the two latest creations of one of the best Romanian wine producers. Its name, SERVE, is an acronym for "Societatea Euro-Romana de Vinuri de Exceptie", one of the first initiatives in Romania, after the fall of communism, to produce premium wines. It was founded in 1994 by Guy Tyrel de Poix, a highly valued Frenchman by the Romanian wine industry, who unfortunately this year left us too soon. RIP.

He put back on track an area of approximately 100ha divided in two vineyards. One on the hills between Ploiesti and Buzau, near a village called Ceptura, an area with a climate similar to Burgundy, called Dealu Mare, very famous in Romania for its very good wine, especially reds. The second one, located somewhere in Dobrogea, a very sunny place, is part of the Babadag vineyard.

Coming closer to the wines they are producing, I should mention their two labels: Vinul Cavalerului and Terra Romana. And today I will focus more on the second one, having the pleasure to receive two samples directly from the producer, to whom I kindly thank.

I tasted two very young wines from this vintner, 2010, which were launched only a couple of weeks ago together with a Rose, a Feteasca Alba and a Chardonnay, also from 2010.

The first one tasted by me was Terra Romana Sauvignon Blanc 2010, with a moderate 13% alcohol very well integrated by a fresh and crispy feeling thanks to a high acidity. According with the “technical” specification, I received in a letter together with the bottles, this wine was never in touch with any wood, which give you the opportunity to feel on your lips all the citrus a young and typical Sauvignon Blanc can offer. The very pale yellow of its color with some greenish hue together with the typical smell of vine tendril makes it an excellent and easy to drink everyday wine.  The aftertaste is very long and bitter. A good pairing for some sushi I tried on Sunday.

The second one was a more complex wine, called Terra Romana Milenium (white). It’s a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and a drop of Chardonnay. It is produced from a new plantation in Dealu Mare region and part of the wine was matured in new barrels. Because of this and more residual sugar, it’s totally different than the first one.

A more intense yellow color, with some green glows because of the age, leaves some very nice traces on the glass after whirling. The nose is a little bit pungent with floral aromas and the tendrils, thanks to the Sauvignon Blanc. In the mouth is more round and soften than the previous one with a similar long and bitter after taste. What I felt in addition, was some milky sensation on the tongue following the swallow.

As a conclusion and a personal recommendation I will go with the Sauvignon Blanc, because of its higher freshness and acidity which I prefer to a very young white wine.

Santé."

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Our thanks to Nicusor. Please see his blog. And by the way, I agree that some of the Terra Romana wines are very nice. Romania makes some lovely Sauvignon Blancs.

Black Sea Wines Brings You Items from the Web - 22 March 2011

Black Sea Wines brings you some of the latest news and opinions from the Web.

• If you missed this January article from The Economist about wines making a comeback in the former Yugoslavia especially Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia, it's a short and enjoyable read.

• Richard Jennings of RJonWine.com has a nice article on new releases from Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

• One of my favorite super cheap wines is the Bulgarian Gamza Suhindol. Gamza comes from the Veliko Tarnovo area and is a spicy medium-bodied red that sells for about $4 per bottle. Click here to find out about the wine and the Lovico winery. According to Lovico's website, their wine is available throughout the EU and in the US.

• IstanbulEats thinks that the 2007 Umurbey Sauvignon Blanc from Turkey is New Zealand quality.

• Cramele Recas, a Romanian winery, on its news page lists new places in the UK and US where you can buy their wine and recent awards. 

• If you can read Romanian, a nice wine blog is Cazan Cu Vin.

• Wine and cheese are always a nice pairing. If you are interested in cheese, check out the blog, Cheese Enthusiast.

A Wine Tasting at the Purcari Winery in Moldova

In December 2010, I was performing an evaluation of a USAID program to build competitiveness in the Moldovan wine, IT and apparel industries. One of the benefits of evaluating the wine industry is you do “field visits” to wineries which essentially means … wine tastings. With my colleagues, Colin and Veaceslav, we braved a horrendous ice storm and nearly skidded off the road while driving to the Purcari Winery in Moldova.

Purcari, one of the more successful Moldovan wineries, produces more than a million bottles per year and sells in 23 countries. The winery built a pleasant country inn near its vineyards with a nice dining room, billiards area, pond and wireless internet in a rustic valley. The fare offered in the dining room, a bit on the expensive side, was disappointingly bland and cold. The menu emphasized continental specialties rather than local.

Before dinner, we had a tour of the Purcari facilities. The facility was impressively clean and modern with imported processing equipment and French oak casks. We wound our way through the cellar and saw bottlings specifically for British royalty.

After the tour, we returned to the hotel for a wine tasting featuring Purcari’s eight principal wines. All of the wines we drank were produced by Purcari in 2007. The wine tasting was a bit academic. Because of the bad weather, the hotel guests all checked in late and the wine steward wanted to go home. The result was a lecture on the wines that seemed like a class in didactics rather than a fun wine tasting.

The first two wines were whites, a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc. The Chardonnay was acceptable; good for an Eastern European Chardonnay if you will. But the price difference with a good California Chardonnay is minimal, so there is not much reason to drink it unless you are unable to buy a California, French or other Chardonnay. The Purcari Chardonnay was flowery and more on the crisp side as opposed to being buttery. The Sauvignon Blanc was significantly better. Moldova and Romania are able to produce reasonable Sauvignon Blancs, dry with enough fruit, not as subtle or as smooth on the palate as a high-end Sauvignon Blanc but drinkable and tasty.

We then moved to the reds moving from the lightest wines to the heaviest. We started with a Pinot Noir which was solid. A friend who went to medical school said that when you received a “solid” in your student evaluation that it meant there was nothing wrong with you but you were not impressive. The Pinot Noir was solid. The Merlot was medium bodied and not quite as dry or robust as one would hope. It may have been one of the more disappointing wines because Moldova can produce some fine Merlot. The Cabernet was next. It was nice and had some fruit but it finished rather quickly. For the price, it’s definitely worth drinking if you’re not insistent on a “Big Red.” The varietals we tasted ranged from $8-12 per bottle.

The next two wines were the two premium blends made by Purcari, Rosu de Purcari (Red by Purcari) and Negru de Purcaru (Black by Purcari). The wines blend Cabernet, Merlot and Saperavi, a Georgian grape. Negru is the super premium wine and sells for $20 per bottle or more which is quite high by Moldovan standards.

The Rosu had nice color, balance and fruit. It was a little timid. I had a difficult time smelling the bouquet. The Negru was the event’s best wine. (Colin thought the Rosu was the best wine. Slava thought the Sauvignon Blanc was.) With a dark color and the strongest scent, Negru de Purcari had the most complexity and flavor of the group. Despite its relatively young age, the Negru clung to the glass and gave us some ‘legs.’ We finished by tasting the Cahor dessert wine. I must admit I am not much of a dessert wine drinker and really am unable to properly judge the Cahor. Nonetheless, my opinion is the Cahor is pleasant, not too cloying and would accompany many desserts well.

I should note that I may be a bit overcritical of the wines because I drank a number of Purcari wines from 2003 and they were a superb value. The 2003 Pinot Noir was outstanding. Lush and velvety on the palate, the Pinot was great with food or solo. I gave a consulting client a bottle of Rosu de Purcari 2003 as a Christmas gift and had a new project two months later! Thus, 2007 may not have been a great year. The winery staff told me that 2010 was not a great year for grapes because the weather was too wet. I would summarize by saying that the Purcari wines are eminently drinkable and enjoyable wines, particularly at their price point, but not superlative, and look out for Purcari wines from 2008 and 2009.

What made the wine tasting particularly nice was that they left the opened for the three of us to finish. So, we managed to polish off nearly all of the seven drinking wines and stumbled upstairs to the winery’s nicely appointed hotel rooms to sleep off the wine tasting and begin the difficult work of evaluating another wine producer.