Sremski Cabernet on the Sava Korzo

Ivan Trivanović, vlasnik vinarije Trivanović

We barely recognized the Corzo raft because a new facility is literally sprouting up around the famous restaurant. But that does not in the least interfere with the familiar comfort of the tucked-away environment on the Sava, where the manager and sommelier Stefan Mladenović has already thought up a dish for us to further help in the analysis of the two Cabernets.

As a warm-up, the Lex was served with fried rice balls covered in salmon tartar with kimchi, with tobiko caviar, Japanese mayonnaise, a little leek and a dash of Tabasco. The refreshing combination of the crispness of the wine and the food allowed for a faster development of the aromatic layers of a seriously elegant rosé, which differs from the previous ones by a slightly darker salmon color, which is the result of a specific vintage in 2022. The sushi on offer at Korzo would easily find a companion for many dishes in Lex.

– I made the first cabernet in 2015, of course it was not the wine from the reserve series that we started in 2017 with this particular wine in the glass – Trivanović introduces us to the story of Srem cabernet while making a toast. – It was a simple stainless steel craft with a bit of chips and it was fantastic, something people were happy to drink. So much so that I didn’t have a single bottle left. True, with 12.5% ​​alcohol, it didn’t have too much aging potential, but when I recently drank the last magnum, it was still nice. An old label with some girls in the picture, but the wine was bought just like that because of the good price-quality ratio. Which always turns out to be good.

That relationship is still present in Ivan’s wines, so much so that these Cabernet Reserves cost only RSD 1,500 at the winery. And now let’s check the quality and compare what we came for as soon as the wine in the decanter is opened.

– There is no need, – notes the winemaker from Šid – it is enough to open the bottle. At least that’s how we practice when we know someone is coming. We remove the cork, leave the bottle and with a short aeration in the glass, the glass is completely ready to drink. Because our Cabernet style is more elegant French than robust Italian.

Trivanović says that this is due to the uniqueness of the Srem terroir, which is quite different from the “southern” terroir. This fact has not been scientifically proven, but is the result of many years of experience with the variety, which in the vast majority of Serbian cabernets achieves a robust Italian style with more alcohol as a muscular tannic wine. The French style deviates both in terms of color and alcohol, but the experience is not diminished.

Stefan Mladenović, menadžer i somelijer restorana Korzo

– Why do I mention the French style? When black grapes ripen in Srem, they never have as much tannin in their skin as they do in regions further south. That’s why the wine we get, and we don’t want to intervene much, adheres more to that milder and gentler, more elegant French style that doesn’t have to have less alcohol. Because when we reach the phenological maturity of the grapes, both Shiraz and Cabernet reach 14%, but with the phenological maturity we also get a wine that tomorrow will not have flaws such as green tannins and the like. After all, French wines are still more expensive than Italian wines, and what we’re talking about doesn’t necessarily mean that they won’t change in the future, observing the climate changes that the guys on TV don’t talk about anymore. But we see drastic differences in temperatures, the amount of precipitation, the temperature that leads to instant changes in grapes.

Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2017 was made by Ivan’s previous technologist and was finished by Tanja Đuričić, who therefore worked 100% on the 2018 harvest, where two styles of production were combined.

The wine from the 2017 vintage was harvested with a potential 13.5% alcohol when the seeds were not yet fully ripe but reached 14%. Sommelier Stefan notes that the body is medium plus, that the wine is more elegant than a year younger, that it is lighter and that the tannins do not cover the food, which is why it is perhaps better for pairing.

– I like that the wood didn’t suffocate it, – he says – it’s quite fruity and still has that alcoholic sweetness on top. Elegant, crisp and at the same time ripe, in the phase when the tannins turn velvety. With the present potential, it is ideal for consumption.

This is expressed with the pork fillet specially created for this occasion, to which both cabernets are perfectly suited. Tasty salty celery chips will cross with the crisp acidity of Cabernet. A special addition is certainly the oyster sauce with the Belgrader cheese melted over it, and it could have been smoked caravan.

– In this dish, the combination of sea and forest is noticeable through oysters and pork – emphasizes Stefan. – The cheese is there to give fullness, complete the body with creaminess, bind the fat that goes with the cabernet and the fruit in it.

The completely different Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2018 also goes well with a briny oyster sauce. Along with a beautiful color, it brings more pronounced fruit aromas in the sense of black cherry, and it is enriched with cloves and black pepper. It has a slightly fuller body, more spices, to which the wood certainly contributed, and the alcohol content is more pronounced at 14.5%.

The tannins are greener than in the 2017 vintage, so it still seems a little wilder, although it already has attributes that indicate that time will benefit it in terms of creaminess, elegance and full body. On the other hand, the wine bottled in 2020 can already be drunk as completely ready, with the indication that it can last for a very long time.

– For Cabernet in 2018, we waited for full phenological maturity and started picking on October 20, when the seeds allowed it. At that moment, the grapes were already a little dehydrated, which brought more extraction and which is good – explains Trivanović. – It contains a bit of merlot to further soften it, which is recognized as a different style of winemaking. Half of it was made in a vinifier and the other by hand in vats by immersing the hook, which is why we got a higher extraction of color, anthocyanins, additional tannins and we are very satisfied.

And if you ask Ivan what is more important to him, whether the shiraz from which Lex and the gold-medaled Shiraz Reserve is created, or the cabernet, he will tell you that it depends only on what he consumes from the plate. Cabernet, of course, with red meats, Shiraz with dark chocolate cake, which is not very sweet.

– And this pork fillet goes perfectly with cabernet and smoked cheese would not harm it at all – he says.

Only a little milder than the Caravan purely to not suppress the fine hints of smoke coming from the somewhat dried grapes of the 2018 vintage |

Photo: Boban Vidović

Source: vino.rs