Fetească Regală (Romania)

We haven't made a trip to Romania on this journey. Let's rectify that. We're headed to the Târnave wine region just to the north of Sibiu in the part of Romania known as Transylvania. It's not an easy trip to get there. We flew to Bucharest, hopped a puddle jumper to Sibiu and drove to the north. We're up at about 1000 feet here, shielded from warming breezes by the Carpathian Mountains and the weather is quite cool.

The area has an old wine history. Herodotus mentioned local wine in his writings more than 2500 years ago. Today, however, the wines have a distinct Mosel (the German wine region near the border with Luxembourg) character likely due to the migration of Saxons from Mosel to Transylvania in medieval times. So, expect the local wines including Fetească Regală to be white and high in acidity.

Fetească Regală was the favorite grape of the Romanian Communist Party. Able to be grown with vines planted extremely close to each other and producing high yields the quantity and therefore financial rewards from it made it a favorite of the former dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. After his quick trial and immediate death on Christmas Day, 1989, with the country going through a revolution and heading toward a more western culture, winemakers moved toward quality.

Vines were planted farther apart. Yields were lower, but produced higher quality grapes.

Today, the wines, often aged in eastern European oak, are fairly acidic, very floral, and quite well-bodied. Expect roses, white flowers, and white fruit, particularly peach, on wines that have been aged even in neutral oak, in an ageworthy white wine.

Fetească Regală pairs quite well with white meats like pork and chicken. Another influence of the Moselle, it's also quite popular with German bratwurst. Locally, however, they say the perfect pairing is barbecued trout.










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