Monday night, after a day spent glued to the keyboard, I went to Amali, a sustainable Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper East Side, to taste a few wines by Bruno Trapan, the winemaker at Trapan Winery in Istria, Croatia. I went in knowing as much about Croatian wine as I do about neurosurgery, but I found the wines refreshingly unique, particularly Trapan’s “Terra Mare,” a bottle of Teran titled after the Istrian peninsula’s Roman nickname — Terra Magica, or “Magical Land” — and Mare, one of the vintner’s daughters.
Teran, or Terrano, is a member of the Refosco family of grapes. Trapan’s has a pleasant bitterness more accentuated than that of its North Italian counterparts, which, while also on the bitter side, tend to deliver a heftier dose of dark fruit flavors. “Terra Mare” is aged twelve months in used French barrique, and an additional three months in bottle. The wine is black red, nearly opaque, with a blood-red meniscus. On the nose, I get cooked mushrooms, faint black pepper, and a hint of smoking firewood. The palate is dominated by dark leather and spice flavors, plus a subtle clove note that provides a rewarding bit of dimension. This is a medium-bodied wine, with light-medium tannins balanced by decent acidity. Rough around the edges with a lasting, leathery finish, Bruno Trapan’s “Terra Mare” would play nicely with something rustic — raw cheddar, homemade sausages, or fresh game.
Visit Bruno Trapan online at http://trapan.hr/en/
Leave a Reply