Midalidare’s grape varieties: Mourvedre The variety
Midalidare’s grape varieties: Mourvedre
Part 1: The variety
Other articles on “Midalidare’s grape varieties: Mourvedre”
It has been only quite recently that wine lovers around the world realized that there was such a close connection between the main grape of Bandol in Provence, the rather scorned Monastrell vine planted in such profusion on the Mediterranean coast of Spain and pockets of ancient vine stumps in both California and Australia traditionally called Mataro. They are one and the same grape variety, for long either despised or ignored.
Mourvedre is late-ripening and sun-loving red grape variety. The grape clusters of Mourvèdre are relatively compact, enhancing its susceptibility to mildew, with small thick-skinned berries that are high in both color and flavor phenolics, particularly tannins. The vine likes warm, dry climates and has small, thick-skinned berries – the textbook combination for making wines with intense color and high tannin levels. In fact, it is the variety's mouth-drying tannins that earned it the French nickname Etrangle-Chien (the dog strangler).
Although nowadays it travels most commonly under its French name Mourvеdre, the vine’s origins are almost certainly Spanish, probably in the Levante, where today the great majority of all the plantings in the world are concentrated. (It may take its French name from the Spanish city of Murviedro).
The variety was hit extremely hard by the phylloxera epidemic of the 1880s, to the extent that it was largely eradicated from some vineyard areas. Its notable strongholds during this time were around Bandol, which has sandy soils that phylloxera cannot survive in (it prefers heavier soil types, particularly clays). Today, Mourvedre vines still line the coastal hillsides of Bandol, and the variety constitutes at least one half of the region's tannic, meaty red wines and its gently spicy rosés – some of the finest in the world.
In Bulgaria, the variety is grown to a limited extent, mainly in the warmer regions. In Mogilovo the plantations amount to 1.3 ha, situated in the sunniest part of the Bio certified Dabovets vineyard. Due to the specific climatic conditions, Mourvedre from Mogilovo is suitable for the production of Rose wine. Midalidare offers on the Bulgarian market two rose wines from 100% Mourvedre: Rose de Mourvedre and Rose de Mourvedre Singe Barrel.
Synonyms include: Monastrell, Mataro, Esparte
Sources:
09.07.2020
