Following the Trend, Arcadia Papaskarası Blanc de Noir
In the game of ‘follow the leader’, the current fashion for Thracian wineries is to have a blanc de noir Papazkarası. This is one of the few native Thracian grapes that wineries actively work with. A black grape, Papazkarası can produce really beautiful red wines redolent with dark fruits, black olives, purple flowers, spice, and sometimes even a hint of salinity. Very few wineries make red wines (or make good red wines) with this grape. In fact, only two spring to mind. And yet, at least four wineries make one, sometimes two, blanc de noir. At least once of which doesn’t even have it on their books as a red wine at all.
I’m all for experimenting with the native grapes here and seeing what they can do. But, my own small opinion, maybe get a black grape right as a red wine first before forcing it to be something it’s not. I’m not a blanc de noir hater. Especially if there are bubbles involved. But every time I see another white Papazkarası on the market I want to beat my head against a wall. I’ve had maybe half a dozen different versions of this wine and can only remember one that was good.
And now there are two.
Arcadia Papaskarası Blanc de Noir, 2020
I feel very bi-polar about this wine! I opened the bottle a few days ago and cringed my way through it. See review #1 for how cringeworthy I thought it was! I corked and put it back in the fridge. Two days later I went back to see if it really was as bad as I thought.
Completely different wine!!!
Review #2 covers the wine after it was open for a few days. I’m leaving them both here so that to emphasize how important it is to let wine breathe and how guilty even I am of not doing it.
Review #1
Pale gold in the glass with pleasing, if shy, aromas of pomelo, peach, and lemongrass. So far so good! The first sip had me physically cringing away from the citric acid flavor and aggressive acidity. This has exactly been my previous experience with this style of wine. I don’t get it. It’s like the grape doesn’t want to be a white wine and keeps trying to say it but people will forever force it into being one. Once the wine had lived in the glass for a while and warmed up some, the acrid acidity was less obvious and some of the nose notes came through…but for me it tasted like cheap, generic, “white wine” at best. Medium-bodied with 13.5% abv and a blessedly short finish.
Review #2
I stick by the nose notes of pomelo, peach, and lemongrass. But now the aromas are more pronounced and richer. The palate has a roundness and slight unctuousness that I find quite pleasing. Lively but not acrid acidity now help balance the palate weight. White peach touched with grapefruit, white petals, and the smallest splash of vanilla cream on the finish. Two completely different wines.
If you get this wine, please use my experience as a lesson and decant, decant, DECANT!!! Let this baby breathe and be the unicorn it is.