A sweet Cabernet from Romania

 



Cabernet Sauvignon is not immediately associated with sweet wines but this is a bit of a curiosity, a sweet wine made from nobly-rotten Cabernet from the Romanian town of Murfatlar by the Black Sea. The town has a microclimate which favours botrytis growth, that is only second to the one of Cotnari also in Romania. Apart from botrytised Cabernet Sauvignon, I have also tasted botrytised Chardonnay from the same locality. Having been imported by the German negociants Pieroth, the Edelbeerenlese designation presumably meant that its was made from selected noble berries. The official Romanian grade is of CIB, which is the equivalent of Beerenauslesen from the German Pradikat classification.

This Cabernet dessert wine does not show the varietal characteristics of blackcurrant fruit but possessed the luscious characteristics of a botrytised wine instead. Not sweet enough for the likes of a heavy onslaught of chocolate, it is nevertheless a good dessert wine and its novelty value earned a place in my list of special wines.