BALLA GÉZA | Stonewine | Cadarca | 2017
kadarka

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Tonight we are going to review a very special wine, as this is the first, single-varietal kadarka wine we’ve tasted so far – Stonewine Cadarca 2017 by ‘Wine Princess’ Balla Géza. Recent research suggests that an ancestor of Kadarka, the Papazkarasi variety found in the Strandja region of Thrace, was taken westwards and planted around Lake Scutari near the modern Albania-Montenegro border, where it was crossed with a local variety, Skardarsko, creating Kadarka. When yields are restrained, kadarka can result in full-bodied and quite tannic wines. Today kadarka can also be found in southern Slovakia, western Romania (in Recas and Minis where it is known as Cadarca), northern Serbia and in Bulgaria (where it is called Gamza). In some vintages, a small amount of botrytis-affected grapes (upto 15%) can be added to the final blend in order to provide more richness, as is the case for this particular wine. The grapes were sourced from the south-facing slopes (called ‘Napos‘, meaning ‘sunny‘ in hungarian), of the Minis region, grown on old, rocky and granite soils (hence the name ‘Stonewine‘). The wine has been aged for 24 months in old and new hungarian oak barriques and another 12 months in the bottle. But enough with all that theory, that said and without further ado, let’s move on straight to our tasting results.
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Take a look at the tasting notes below and our detailed assessment of the wine:

//Visual
colour: medium ruby color
clarity: hazy garnet shades

//Olfactory
intensity: rich & mature
fruit profile: black fruits
__black fruits: black cherry | blackberry | black plum | aronia berry | blackcurrant
fruit character: overripe & dried

//Flavor
non fruit: spice | oak | earthy | other
__spice: red pepper & black pepper
__oak: roasted oakwood | oak tree bark
__earthy: black soil dust | compost
__other: dried black plum | beetroot | sweet potato
__wood: old & new / medium roast

//Palate
sweetness: dry
acidity: high
alcohol: high
tannin: med(+)
__grip: fine
balance: good
__dominant: alcohol & acidity
body: supple & round | medium+

//Taste
fruit profile: black fruits
fruit character: ripe & overripe
non fruit: spice & oak
finish: medium+
aftertaste: hot & seedy

//Scoring
BALLA GÉZA | Stonewine | Cadarca | 2017
variety: kadarka
country: Romania
region: Minis
rating: 92.5

//Conclusion
maturity: developing | age for another 2-3 years
verdict: fine | highly recommended
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This is definitely a fine wine of Romania and, with a total of 92.5 points scored, this wine is right there, among the best wines we’ve rated so far. Check our complete database on the wine rating page, where you can find all the wines that we have tasted and reviewed or go to the about us page and find out more about our exquisite rating system.

Verdict: this is a very fine and seedy wine indeed – fruity-earthy, spicy and grippy – a wine that is still developing, therefore another 2 or 3 years of bottle ageing will do just fine. It feels firm and quite round, with a a ripe tannic grip and quite some touch of alcoholic warmth on the mouthfeel, which makes it taste slightly angular towards the end of the palate. On the nose, the wine delivers ripe and overripe black fruits in the foreground, supported by a spicy-woody background and a layer of savory earthiness in between. All in all this is a very well structured wine, supple and firm, with a medium+ body and a seedy-hot finale – a fine example of how a terrior-driven wine can be crafted using tradition and technology. This is definitely a wine that has both, a distinctive personality (you’ll have a hard time finding a kadarka wine of similar complexity) and the footprint of the Minis terroir.

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