''Grasă de Cotnari'' () is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n wine variety associated with the Cotnari wine region, in

Iași County Iași County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Western Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași. It is the most populous county in Romania, after the Municipality of Bucharest (which has the same administrative level as that of a cou ...

(historical region of

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

), where it has been grown ever since the rule of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

Stephen the Great Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great (; ; died 2 July 1504), was List of rulers of Moldavia, Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II of Moldavia, Bogdan II, who was murdered in ...

(1457–1504). The grape is characterized by its relatively large berries.

Wine styles

Grasă de Cotnari is usually a botrytised sweet wine (although semi-sweet varieties are also made) and usually has a high residual sugar content, sometimes as much as 300g/liter. The harvest of 1958 reached the maximal sugar content in the history of this wine of about 520g/liter. With the general decline in demand for sweet wines after the Second World War and bad wine making during the communist era, mainly produced for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

,Sweet wines starting to trickle out of Romania
at japantimes.co.jp Grasă de Cotnari became largely forgotten in the international wine market. Even today it is seldom available, although the offered qualities have improved considerably. The wine is made primarily from a grape variety also called Grasă de Cotnari.Grasa de Cotnari
,

Vitis International Variety Catalogue The Vitis International Variety Catalogue (VIVC) is a database of various species and varieties/cultivars of grapevine, the genus ''Vitis''. VIVC is administered by the Geilweilerhof Institute for Grape Breeding (''Institut für Rebenzüchtung G ...

, accessed 2010-11-24 or Grasă (an old white grape cultivated in the

Furmint Furmint (also known as Mainak) is a white Hungarian wine grape variety that is most noted widely grown in the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region where it is used to produce single-varietal dry wines as well as being the principal grape in the better ...

group), although some additional Fetească Alba is allowed. It is produced from grapes that fully reached and exceeded their maturity, hence the high residual sugar content. It is suitable for making

aszú Tokaji ( ) or Tokay is a rich, sweet wine originating in the Tokaj wine region (also ''Tokaj-Hegyalja wine region'' or ''Tokaj-Hegyalja'') in Hungary. This region is noted for its Dessert wine, sweet wines made from grapes affected by noble rot, ...

wines in Hungary where it is called ''Kövérszőlő''. A carefully made Grasă de Cotnari is a golden yellow wine, and in spite of its residual sweetness should retain a fine acid structure and 11,5–14%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as alc/vol or ABV) is a common measure of the amount of Alcohol (drug), alcohol contained in a given alcoholic beverage. It is defined as the volume the ethanol in the liquid would take if separated from the rest ...

. It ages well, its color darkens from pale yellow to reach a dark yellow with an orange note in it. A good Grasă de Cotnari should have a distinct bouquet of apricot, walnut and almond and should be drunk chilled at about 10–12 degrees Celsius.

Relationship to other grapes

The grape variety Grasa is known as ''Kövérszőlő'' () in

Tokaj Tokaj () is a historical town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 54 kilometers from county capital Miskolc. It is the centre of the Tokaj-Hegyalja wine district where Tokaji wine is produced. History The wine-growing area ...

, Hungary. These two grape varieties are identical.Investigation of the cultivation value and the relations of origin of old grapevine cultivars in Tokaj
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External links

Cotnari Vineyard WebsiteAbout COTNARICotnari Wine House of Iasi
at agerpres.ro

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasa De Cotnari White wine grape varieties Moldavia Noble rot wines Grape varieties of Romania Wineries of Romania