Lacerta Cuvee IX, Dealu Mare

Lacerta Cuvee IX is the estate’s top red wine blend and which consists of Cabernet Sauvignon, Blaufraenkisch, Feteasca Neagra and Merlot sourced from vines with an aged of 10 years old. Most will be familiar with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Feteasca Neagra (literally “black maiden”), like the white grape Feteasca Alba from which it is thought to derive, is indigenous to Romania and Moldova. Blaufraenkisch (known elsewhere as Blaufrankisch without an ‘e’) is widely grown across central Europe. It is also known as Burgund Mare in Romania. Lacerta Winery is one of the most modern wineries in Romania which was achieved with an impressive 7 million Euro investment. The company was founded in 2003 by a group of investors headed by Austrian businessman Walter Friedl. The first vines were planted in 2005, the vineyards now cover some 80 hectares or so, and the first wine was launched in 2011. The ultra-modern winery is almost entirely gravity-fed with minimal use of pumps to move the wine around. After harvest, the grapes for the Lacerta Cuvee IX are cold macerated for 2 days prior to alcoholic fermentation. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in tank prior to 12 months ageing in a combination of French and East European 225L oak barriques.