Ripe sour cherries and bitter chocolate dominate the flavor of Marselan Premium 2015 from the Bulgarian winery Château Burgozone on the banks of the Danube, about 150 kilometers from the Serbian border. It has a beautiful ruby color, a subtle influence of wood, a slight spiciness, plenty of sweetness and a pronounced freshness.
From the Black Sea to the Adriatic
I met him at the Black Sea Wine Forum near Varna and liked him so much that I traded one of the best Croatian Rieslings for him. And I didn't regret it after opening it at home soon after.
Marselan is a cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache. It was crossed in 1961 at the Institute for Agronomic Research in Montpellier in an attempt to produce grapes with larger berries. However, the berries remained small and the experiment seemed to have failed.
It has been an official variety since 1990.
It proved to produce very good grapes and was resistant to disease, so in 1990 it was included in the list of recognized varieties. It was named after the town of Marseillan, where the Institute has an experimental vineyard. The wines are fragrant, their color is between ruby and purple, they are medium-bodied and have soft tannins.
It is mostly planted in vineyards in the south of France and the north of Spain, and there is some in California, Argentina and China. Well, in Bulgaria, but also in Croatia. The Matković family winery from Potomje on Pelješac bottles it under the name L’amour.
Carmen as an inspiration
The name and label are inspired by Bizet's opera Carmen, and the dancer was drawn by an academic painter Petra Matković. Marselan is also found in the vineyards of Pelješac. It was planted to refresh Plavac wines.
Petit Verdot is another French grape that is rarely made into a single-varietal wine, and it is much older than Marseillan. In Bordeaux, there is a saying Grand Verdot, Petit Verdot, Bons, which can be translated as small green, large green, both are good. It dates from 1736. Grand Verdot or Verdot Gros has smaller berries and produces weaker wines than its little brother, so in 1946 its planting in Bordeaux was banned.
Small green is actually red.
Petit Verdot is given a supporting role by many Bordeaux winemakers in their classic red blends. More than others, but even that is up to five percent, it is used by the famous wineries Margaux and Palmer. An excellent wine made from this small green, but actually red grape, is made in Croatia by Moreno Degrassi from Savudrija.
The fate of these French varieties in Croatia is shared by the Roter Veltliner. It was domesticated on Plešivica, and we can also call it ours, considering that it was planted at a time when a large part of Croatia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is not related to the better-known Grüner Veltliner, but it produces wines with pleasant acidity, medium or low alcohol content, and harmonious aromas and flavors.
Only one is on the market
It is mostly grown in vineyards with about a dozen other white varieties. As a single-varietal wine it is made by Robert and Patrik Braje from Lokošin Dol near Jastrebarsko. It is the only Red Veltliner that can be purchased in bottles. An excellent Red Veltliner wine was made from the 2005 vintage by Zdenko Šember from nearby Donji Pavlovčani.
It's not my first, but I'm happy with this one, said Zdenko about the 2005 Red Veltliner wine that he macerated in an open vat for six months and pressed at Easter 2006. The serious wine from the delicate variety was aged in barrels until the end of 2007, and he filled it into 450 bottles. He opened them mainly for wine connoisseurs who visited the winery.