Zilavka - Coming Soon to Signature Wines From Stobi
Posted on Tue 15th Apr 2014 at 15:31
Just think of the triple word score for a name like that (for any scrabble players reading this).
In fact Žilavka is just one of the multitude of weird sounding grapes to be found in the Balkans, and one that deserves a much wider audience for its expressive aromas, good body and lively acidity. There’s an organisation called Wine Mosaic, dedicated to protecting rare Mediterranean grape varieties, and they claim that over 70% of the world’s wine is made from just 30 grape varieties. Yet the recently released book “Wine Grapes” by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz (essential reading for any real wine nerds) has tracked down 1,368 distinct grape varieties (all of the noble grapevine Vitis vinifera) being grown to make wine commercially. And Jancis tells me they have already found a few more since the book was published.
Just because a grape is obscure doesn’t automatically mean that it will be good – often grapes fell out of favour because they were disease prone, unreliable or just not very good. However, modern viticulture and winemaking is allowing growers to dig back into their heritage and find grapes that do deserve a second chance, that can add variety and interest to our daily glass, and Žilavka is looking set to be a grape well worth reviving. The grape (which is white by the way) probably gets its name from the veins that are visible under the skin of the ripe berry, as Žila means vein. Research suggests that Žilavka probably originated in Bosnia & Herzegovina, around Mostar, still today its heartland and accounting for around half the grapes grown in this former Yugoslavian nation. It seems to be a pretty old variety, as there are records for this grape dating back 600 years to the time of Bosnian King Tvrtko (if only his name was allowed for scrabble). The Yugoslavian period had a dramatic influence on grape growing and making wine in this region, with large-scale collectivisation into state-run industrial wineries producing quantity over quality. Older readers might remember Lutomer Laški Rizling – one of Yugoslavia’s most successful exports and a significant foreign currency earner, shipped in vast quantities to our shores. This was a period when grapes moved around the Balkan Peninsula and in the case of Zilavka, it ended up in the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Croatia as it usefully suits the climate. It can get pretty hot and dry in these countries in the summer, so the grape’s tolerance of drought, along with its ability to retain fresh acidity even in baking sunshine is very useful. I’ve heard claims that that Žilavka is another name for Hungary’s Furmint, but genetic analysis shows this theory to be false. No one knows exactly what Žilavka’s parentage is, but its DNA indicates that it is a distant cousin of Italy’s Prosecco. However, it is a much more interesting and higher quality grape than its boring Italian cousin. If variety is the spice of life, then drink on - Žilavka is well worth adding to your wine experiences. Written by Caroline Gilby; Master of Wine, for Signature Wines Ltd.
