History of Crimean viticulture and winemakinghas more than 2000 years. Even in ancient times, settlers from Greek colonial cities, located on the Crimean Peninsula, gave so much wine that it was enough not only to meet domestic needs, but also to export to neighboring regions. And today the inexpensive and delicious wines produced here are known all over the world. In the "Sun Valley" there are several unique, so-called aboriginal varieties of grapes, from which produce a unique and special, such as "Black Colonel" and "Black Doctor", wine.
Unique taste isA vintage dessert wine, grown up in the Sun Valley, with a somewhat strange name - "Black Doctor". For its production, only such varieties are used as Kefesiya, Ekim Kara, Krona, Jevat Kara and some others, indigenous, grown only in the "Sun Valley". This Crimean dessert wine has a beautiful and deep pomegranate-red color and plays ruby shades in the light. The taste is deep and velvety, full and slightly tart, filled with the aromas of dry pears, cream and mulberry. The bouquet of the "Black Doctor" is harmoniously balanced, rich, bright and memorable, with the basic tones of bitter chocolate, prunes and light hints of vanilla and licorice. Interesting and aftertaste - bitter cocoa and milk cream. This fortified dessert wine, which includes 16% of sugar and alcohol. The aging time of this brand in oak barrels is small, only about two years.
Not a place was born legend about the healingopportunities of the "Black Doctor". Modern research has established that, in addition to unique taste characteristics, this wine has medicinal properties. Thanks to its organic acids, flavonoids, vitamins and trace elements, as well as fructose and glucose in easily digestible form, it is recommended to use "Black Doctor" in therapeutic dosages for anemia and anemia of various etiology, physical exhaustion and chronic fatigue syndrome, to improve functioning heart muscle and the state of the circulatory system in atherosclerosis.
Local residents tell a legend about howappeared this extraordinary wine. According to her, in the old days in the "Sun Valley" lived a doctor who knew not only the science of healing, but also practiced magic and studied the motion of celestial bodies. For medical talent, responsiveness and kindness, the villagers began to call him Doctor. This man was not only an excellent healer, but also an excellent vintner. On his site grew unusual varieties of grapes, from which he made drinks that can heal. Once his friend - the colonel - was badly injured in the hunt. The villagers brought the dying man to the Doctor's house, but that was not at home. Then, trying to help, good people gave a drink to a wounded wine, but they gave him not a small fraction, but a whole jug. A magical drink helped - the body was healed, but now the mind is confused. Returning to his home Doctor, the colonel did not recognize and killed. Sobered up the next morning, he realized what he had done, and from that moment did not drink a drop of wine. The fellow villagers kept the doctors and his vines, and the memory of that incident, calling one kind of grapes Ekim Kara, which means "Black Doctor", and the other - Dzhevat Kara, translated into Russian - "Black Colonel".
Legends and legends, of course, are romantic, but"Black Doctor" is wine, the true story of which is no less dramatic. In the 30 years of the last century on the Crimean peninsula began to establish the production of fortified and dessert wines. It was decided to use, among other things, an old local variety like Ekim Kara. On its basis began to produce "Ruby Crimean" - wine tasty and high quality, but it was not popular, and in the second half of the XX century the question arose about the cessation of its production. Only the fact that one of the high-ranking Soviet officials was a great fan of it was saved only by the disappearance of wine. In 1965, "Ruby Crimean" was renamed the "Black Doctor". In the same year, it was first laid out on the collection endurance. This red grape wine, despite a rather high price, immediately fell in love with buyers in the Soviet Union, has become one of the most popular and famous. In the late 70s of the last century, most European, including Crimean vineyards, were virtually destroyed by phylloxera, aphids brought from America. To save the vines had to inoculate all varieties of grapes that grow in the Crimea, on cuttings of American vines, resistant to this pest. Unique varieties were saved, only the quality of the grapes and the special taste that Crimean wines possessed changed somewhat. This happened because American varieties take much more moisture out of the soil and accumulate significantly less sugars. Experts argue that all this played a role in impoverishing the taste characteristics of wines.
By the end of the seventies of the XX century, vines of basic varietiesgrapes used for the production of the "Black Doctor", such as Kefesia and Ekim Kara, grew old and needed updating and re-laying. However, due to some incomprehensible bureaucratic "problems" in the Soviet bureaucratic machine, funds for this have not been singled out.
Relatively recently, the wineryMassandra was allowed to produce the "Black Doctor". The wine obtained here does not have those unique taste qualities, as the grapes of the variety Ekim Kara are cultivated in completely different soil and climatic conditions.
What is so special about this brand of wine, thanit differs from others produced in the Crimea? Scientists from the Institute "Magarach" conducted a number of studies as a result of which it was concluded that the unique taste, bouquet and color palette of red dessert Crimean wines depends on the number of phenolic complexes and tannins contained in them. Unlike others, the "Black Doctor" - the wine produced by the "Sun Valley" - is more saturated with phenols, flavonoids, and also responsible for the aroma and taste of higher alcohols and esters. Also, scientists managed to establish that the differences in the composition of the wine "Black Doctor" from other brands produced in other areas are due to:
About unique Crimean wines: champagne and table, vintage and fortified, sweet and dry, semisweet and author's - you can talk endlessly.
Already in the far Soviet times is quite expensivecost fortified wine "Black Doctor". The price today is also high - from 1300 in the Crimean stores, but in the cities of European Russia less than 1500 rubles to find it is unlikely to succeed. Collective copies of Soviet times stand, like any rare and exclusive objects, very expensive. Many are interested in what determines the price of a particular wine. First of all, on the quality, quantity and quality of the grapes, the yield per year of wine production, the technological conditions for its production and the aging period, as well as other nuances. If you decide to try this unique brand of fortified vintage wine, like "Black Doctor", you should buy it in branded stores, having carefully read the information provided on the label. Remember that today only two Crimean enterprises are engaged in its production and bottling: "Solnechnaya Dolina" and "Massandra". All other manufacturers simply do not have legal rights to produce it.
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