Romanian Wine: Carastelec winery – a hidden gem?
If, like me, you’re a big fan of sparkling wine, this post is for you! I recently had the privilege of tasting the range of wines from the Carastelec winery from Transylvania, Romania. Having travelled on several occasions to Romania, I was already familiar with their still wines, both red and white. But sparkling wines have always appeared to be in short supply. Well Carastelec are turning this on its head, and doing it with style!
Imagine a warm late spring day, wandering around a food and wine festival, and the first stall which catches your eye has ice cold sparkling wines! In the blink of an eye, I had a glass in my hand and was sipping away! Can you blame me?
About the winery
Established in 2011, the 22 hectare site, grows classic sparkling varieties in the shadows of the Șimleu Mountains. There is evidence that viticulture has been occurring here since 1770. A relative high diurnal range (temperature difference between the day and night) means grapes ripen slowly. The winery launched it flagship Carassia brand in 2017. The brand offers a blanc de blancs (Chardonnay only), a classic brut (Chardonnay and Pinot Noir), and a sparkling rose (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and other red grapes).
The winery also has two other brands. Vinca, under which they produce still wines (A Rhine Riesling and a Pinot Noir). And Friza, which produces two light sparkling wines (a Pinot Noir and a Royal Maiden) using the Asti Method.
The wines – Friza Pinot Noir Rose
I had the opportunity to try Pinot Noir, which made very pleasant drinking. The wine was fruit forward, refreshing, with a red fruit (strawberry and raspberry) taste, and a sharper gooseberry / grapefruit finish. The wine won a Silver Decanter Award in 2020. The style is easy drinking, and this would, in my view, make for an excellent party wine. You may also want to pair it with light cheeses, and sea food dishes. This is the entry level wine, and punches above its weight.
The classic Brut
If you are into high quality Cava or Cap Classique I’d say this is a good comparison with that. It is a Traditional Method wine, but I would say it doesn’t have the biscuity, briochey, yeasty flavours of a Champagne. The wine has, however, been aged 36 months and in bottle for 20 months, which means its got more character than, for example, a Prosecco. If someone handed you a glass of this, you’d frankly be delighted. It has a great freshness, and the classic flavours of a Chardonnay / Pinot blend. The wine has an impressive collection of awards which are well deserved.
The Brut Rose
You can definitely see this wine is big brother of the Friza. Its more grown up, sophisticated and elegant thanks to the Traditional Method processes. This wine has 24 months aging, with at least 20 in the bottle. And it shows. Red fruit flavours, fresh acidity and subtle yeasty notes make for a very well balanced and deceptively drinkable final glass. I couldn’t help compare this with some of the better English sparkling roses, and it stacks up very well.
The flagship Blanc de Blancs
After trying the Classic Brut, I was actually questioning how much better the flagship wine could be. But it was. You’ll find a greater depth of lees like flavours, and a creamy smooth texture on the palette. The single variety (Chardonnay) obviously means a different flavour profile. Here it is the secondary and tertiary flavours which come more to the fore.
There is a little less room to hide in a Blanc de Blancs. This is a stunning wine. So much so, I’m heading back to one of the few stockists I’m aware of to get myself a bottle. Its around £19 a bottle, so not cheap. But compared with an entry level Champagne, you’d be getting something a lot more special if you splashed out on a bottle.
Small producer attitude
I managed to spend quite a while chatting to the staff – a quick shoutout to their Manager: Edit. Edit explained to me that there is a growing community of wealthy Romanians developing in the area around the vineyard. The ambition is to appeal to that higher end buyer. And with the products they have, I think they stand a really good chance of doing that. As well as an extensive range of outlets in Romania, they also export to Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands and Poland.
If you fancy visiting them, you are going to probably want to build that into a longer visit, as the are located quite some distance from a major transport hub. But you can find out more about them at: https://www.carastelecwinery.com/ In the meantime, keep exploring this beautiful planet we live on, one glass at a time!