Fetească Neagră

Fetească Neagră — "the black maiden's grape" — is Romania's most celebrated indigenous red variety, an ancient vine of the Carpathian foothills that many regard as the country's flagship red. It gives deeply coloured, full-bodied wines with a generous core of dark plum and blackberry, dried-fruit richness and a warm, gently spicy edge, all carried on rounded, supple tannins. Where many old native reds are lean and rustic, Fetească Neagră is plush and velvety, ripening to high sugar and yielding wines that are both approachable young and capable of ageing gracefully in oak. Grown the length of Romania and across the border in Moldova, it is the confident, food-loving face of Eastern European red wine.