Curious about Romanian wine? My discoveries with Cramele Recaș!
Romanian wine is taking the UK market by storm because of the high level of quality from the region at excellent value for money. The vineyards in Romania are located at 45 degrees latitude, which is also known as the “curious parallel” because it crosses some of the most prestigious vineyards in the world, including those of Bordeaux and the Northern Rhône. What this means, to you and I, is that Romania has a pretty perfect climate for making wine.
Goldilocks would approve
Romania is a bit of a Goldilocks region for winemakers, as the conditions are “just right” to grow pretty much any grape variety. International varieties that grow there include Riesling, Aligoté, Sauvignon, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir - all varieties that we know and love - which we can now get at a much friendlier price point. There are also native Romanian varieties that we are getting to know and love, such as Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală, Tămâioasă Românească, Grasă de Cotnari and Galbenă de Odobești. Trust me, getting your mouth around the names gets easier with practice (maybe it helps to get your mouth around the wines first?).
The leading premium winery in Romania, Cramele Recaș is helping us do so, by releasing their diverse (and delicious) range to wine lovers all over the UK. I was tasked with trying out a selection and introducing them to my readers and social media followers. (Cue “It’s a hard life” comments, etc!)
Cramele Recaș Curious Parallel Fetească Regală
The first wine I tasted from the Cramele Recaș range was the Curious Parallel Fetească Regală. Curious Parallel is the name of the wine and Fetească Regală is the name of the grape variety! The grape name actually means “Maiden Royal”, which basically translates as “princess”. It’s very apt name for this variety, as it really is very charming. It’s light and graceful (Fetească Regală wines are generally low in alcohol - this one is 11.5% ABV), with aromas of white flowers, green apples and sweet stone fruits.
A wine relatively low in acidity, the Curious Parallel Fetească Regală is a palate-friendly wine, which is great for spring and summer sipping. However, some partial oak ageing for 60 days gives it some nice complexity and structure, which helps it pair well with food. I also got a little bit of cinnamon spice, perhaps coming through from the oak.
Food pairings?
I paired the Curious Parallel Fetească Regală with a rocket and lentil salad, topped with sweet potato, feta, pine nuts and a piri-piri dressing. As it’s a wine that’s heading towards the off-dry side of things, the sweet potato brought out the wine’s savoury notes, which made it taste fresher. Then, you had the juxtaposition with the salty feta, which enhanced the fruit in the wine. The spice of the piri-piri provided a subtle tingle, which the wine complemented, rather than fought against.
Watch my live tasting of this wine here.
Curious Parallel Fetească Regală îs available from Virgin Wines for £9.99.
Cramele Recaș Orange Natural Wine
I love the labelling of this wine - it literally couldn’t be any clearer. It has Orange Natural Wine emblazoned across the front of the bottle, with the tags ‘vegan wine’, ‘no added yeasts’, ‘no added sugar’, ‘no added sulphur’ and ‘made naturally’. On the back it had all the associated green stamps, including the organic accreditation. If you’re a health-conscious wine nut, this one’s for you!
Not just for hipsters
Orange wine, also known as skin-contact wine is definitely having a bit of a moment right now. It’s funky, it’s cool, it’s a little hipster. If you’ve never tried an orange wine before, first of all, it has nothing to do with oranges. Yes, the wine has an orange colour to it, but that’s just what happens when you leave white grape skins in the fermentation when you’re making wine. Orange wine is basically white wine made in a red wine way, with the skins left in, to impart flavour, colour, texture, tannins and aromatics. Orange wine can have a bitterness to it, but the savoury tang is what makes it appealing to many wine drinkers. However, if you haven’t had orange wine yet, this is a great one to start with because the tang is a very subtle one.
“Crisp like white wine with the complexity of red wine” is written on the back, which is a great way to describe it.
>>> Read Why You Should Be Drinking Romanian Wine
Tasting notes
Cramele Recaș Orange Natural Wine is a bright, clear amber in the glass with intense aromas of flowers, fresh green herbs, dried apricots and candied orange peel. Also, there is a nuttiness there, perhaps some blanched almonds. On the palate, there’s a Campari-like bitterness, and a grippy texture from the tannins.
The grape blend changes from year to year, but the 2020 vintage is chardonnay-based with some viognier and local grape varieties, however, this wine is less about the grapes and more about the style and technique, which is where the character comes from.
You drink this wine chilled, like a white wine, and because of its complexity, layers and depth, it makes a brilliant food wine. It’s massively versatile, so it would pair with a lot of different dishes, but don’t be afraid to pair it with more robust ingredients - it can take it! Cramele Recaș Orange Natural Wine would be great with anything spicy too, perhaps even a balti!
This wine is available at Tanners Wines for £13.50 and you’ll see it in lots of organic food shops too!
Watch my live tasting of this wine here.
Cramele Recaș Babele Sauvignon Blanc
This zingy, zippy Sauvignon Blanc celebrates the first days of spring with its ripe fruit flavours and light, bright texture. I tasted Cramele Recaș Babele Sauvignon Blanc live with Libby Zietsman-Brodie (click here to watch) so that we could compare notes and discuss the wine together.
Libby makes a great point about wine lovers starting to look elsewhere for their fresh, zesty tropical-fruited Sauvignon Blancs due to a few unfortunate poor harvests in more of the well-known Sauvignon Blanc producing countries - and Romania is a great place to start looking!
Cramele Recaș Babele Sauvignon Blanc has fantastic acidity, without being brash. It has a lovely roundness of fruit, which makes it palate-friendly and very approachable. Those tell-tale Romanian floral notes also make their way into this wine, which again just seems to accentuate the spring vibes of this Sauvignon Blanc.
Libby and I agreed we’d pair this wine with light foods, such as fish, shellfish and salads. A green salad, with some grapefruit pieces and toasted nuts would be a lovely dish to enjoy with this wine.
Dinner party with Cramele Recaș wines
My adventure in Romanian wine culminated with a lunch, which I hosted for a group of wine pals, so that we could explore Cramele Recaș wines together and test out some food pairings!
We started with the 𝗩𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝗥𝗼𝘀é as an aperitif, followed by the 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮. Both light, fresh wines with floral aromas and lots of ripe, juicy fruit - these were perfect to kick things off and enjoy with a nibble of the brandade (creamed cod) and crackers.
𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗮 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗼 had lots of lovely Sicilian lemon and peach flavours, which paired really nicely with my fig and blue cheese salad. The overriding comment from my guests was how much character it had compared with many other Pinot Grigios out there. It also paired really nicely with the pasta salad with fresh herbs, lentils and pomegranate. Another great pairing for this dish was the 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱, as the bright, berry fruits played off the pops of pomegranate.
I served two big, buttery roasted artichokes with the 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲 𝗙𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗰𝗮 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮, a big, bold spicy red. We interchanged the Solomonar and the Selene, some preferring the softness of the Solomar and some enjoying the structure of the Selene. The latter paired very well with French saucisson, which we kept slicing well into the evening.
As you can see, you don’t have to only eat Romanian food with Romanian wine! These wines were super versatile with a variety of dishes and, of course, it comes down to the sensations you like to experience on your palate.