EMPORIA

WINE NOTES

Premium (Vrhunsko) Dry Red Wine “Beware of Blatina’s strength,” wine makers in Herzegovina will warn you. This female grape variety, which does not self-pollinate, mesmerizes with a soft and gentle beauty, enticing you to want more of the warm feeling it awakens. The cradle of the Blatina grape is in the Mostar wine region – it grows nowhere else in the world. Despite the efforts of wine makers to extend the range of these vineyards to other areas and ensure regular harvest by cross-pollinating Blatina with other varieties, it has proven to be difficult. When Blatina does produce fruit, these rare vintages are special and desired by the finest wine elite. The wine is aged in stainless steel to maintain its freshness. It is full of dynamic fruit flavors and earthy notes: dried cherries, fresh picked blackberry, and even slight savory herb notes linger on the front of the palate. The wine is earthy with flavors of autumn leaves and dried flowers, similar to those found in Southern Rhône wines. Pair Blatina with aged cheeses, spicy foods, smoked beef or any red meat.; Blatina 85%, Alicante Bouschet, 5% Vranac 10%; 750ML ALC. 12% BY VOL; Serving temperature: 64-68°F. The personal selection of wines of Austrian emperors Sisi and Franz Joseph come from Carski Vinogradi Vineyards.

WINE  NOTES

Made of 100% Vranac variety, the most common variety of the Ancient Illyrian lands. It comes from two micro-locations near Unesco protected town of Mostar: Carski Vinogradi with gravely soil and the second location Bisce Polje next to the winery where the terroir is a mix of clay and sand deposited by the Alpine river Neretva that flows from Dynaric Alps to Adriatic sea and creates perfect environment for wine growing and wines with complex minerality. This Vranac is full bodied, robust red with notes of cinnamon, chocolate, dark berries and licorice and should be paired with all kinds of meat, especially steak and picante and aged cheese. Grapes are hand picket in small crates to preserve the fruit during transport to the winery. After the crushing, the mash is put in the fermentation tanks with cylinders of 10 000 l capacity, and macerated (skins in contact with fermenting wine) for 10-14 days at a temperature of 27-29 °C. During maceration, the mash is firstly sprinkled with must (grape juice) until the onset of turbulent fermentation; in turbulent fermentation, the mash is punched down mechanically twice a day with cylinders to the bottom of the vinificator for better tannin extraction. Following the maceration and alcohol fermentation, the new wine is racked (separated from the heavy solids that settle on the bottom of the tank) off into Slavonian wooden barrels 30% of the wine while 70% is aged in stainless steel where the spontaneous malolactic fermentation continues.The wine made from Vranac grapes ages in for 20 – 24 months months and, subsequently, in bottles for a minimum of 3-6 months. Alcohol is always between 13 and 14 %, acidity between 5 to 5.5 g/l which is typical for Mediterranean wines that are capable of long aging.