When I started this website, one of the first wines I wrote about was Czar Lazar Semi-Dry. When I decided to re-brand, putting more emphasis on my own photography instead of relying on stock photos, I took down everything and started all over.The thing is, I really liked some of the old posts, I just didn’t have good images to pair with the blog, so I went back to Cardinal Wine and Spirits to buy another bottle of this, making sure I shot better photos this time around.
I’m not going to lie, Czar Lazar sounds like some forgotten Captain America villain that would only find screen time long after the franchise jumped the shark. I wanted to understand his significance, so I looked him up, here’s a brief note for my historically minded readers: Lazar Hrebeljanović was a 14thcentury Serbian ruler who maintained a strong and prosperous state,he died in the battle of Kosovo on June 15th1389 while fighting the invading Ottoman army. He is an important cultural figure to Serbia and a saint in the Orthodox Christian Church, and he also has a wine named after him.
This was my second Serbian wine I’ve tried, the other was from the same producer and they were both off dry. A lot of the Eastern European wines I’ve encountered are a little sweet, which I think one of the reasons so many people disregard them. I’m guilty of it too, I caught myself hesitating to buy this because I didn’t want something that was too sweet. Look, the only reason an off dry or semi-dry wine would ever be “too sweet” was if it was unbalanced, and there’s a risk of that with every wine you buy. When I realized what I was doing, I made myself buy a bottle to take home, I’m glad I did.
The wine had a gorgeous deep garnet color. There was a lot of black fruit in the nose, with some earthy, vegetal, aromas hiding underneath. The body was just a touch heavier than medium, subtle tannin, off dry with a well balanced acidity, dominating black cherry flavors, and a touch of wet leaves. It was everything I ever want out of California Pinot Noir, but can never find.
Don’t let my last statement mislead you, this isn’t Pinot Noir. According to producer’s website, Czar Lazar is made from a blend of Prokupac, Vranac, Merlot, and Games. The first two are pretty common Eastern European varietals, and Merlot is a rock star grape everyone should be familiar with, but what is Games? My first thought was that it was a regional spelling of Gamay, but Jancis Robinson’s book on wine grapes leads me to believe it’s Blaufränkisch.
The other interesting thing about this wine is that it appears to be non-vintage. There’s no harvest year listed anywhere on the label. So, beyond being a blend of grapes, it could also be a blend of vintages. There’s not a lot of information on the website, if anyone knows the details, fill me in.
Lastly, and one of my favorite things about wines from Eastern Europe, this cost only me $5.99. The website lists this as a table wine, something for a weeknight meal, not a special occasion and that’s exactly how I’d look at it. If you need a weeknight red, this is great choice,because it has more complexity than the average bottle or box in the same price range.
But that’s my opinion, if you’ve had the chance to try it, let me know what you think.