The history of Crimean viticulture and winemaking has 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 for export to neighboring regions. And today the inexpensive and tasty wines produced here are known all over the world. In the “Sunny Valley” several unique, so-called native grape varieties grow , from which they produce a unique and special, such as “Black Colonel” and “Black Doctor”, wine.
Features and Features
The unique dessert wine produced from the grapes grown in the Sunny Valley has a unique dessert wine with a somewhat strange name - “Black Doctor”. For its manufacture, only such varieties are used as Kefesiya, Ekim Kara, Krona, Jevat Kara and some other, native, grown only in the "Sun Valley". This Crimean dessert wine has a beautiful and deep garnet red color and plays in the light with ruby ​​hues. Its taste is deep and velvety, full and slightly tart, filled with aromas of dry pear, cream and mulberry. The bouquet of the “Black Doctor” is harmoniously balanced, rich, bright and memorable, with the main tones of dark chocolate, prunes and light hints of vanilla and licorice. The aftertaste is also interesting - bitter cocoa and milk cream. This is a fortified dessert wine, which includes 16% sugar and alcohol. The aging periods of this brand of wine in oak barrels are small, only about two years.
Healing properties
The legend about the healing abilities of the Black Doctor was born not from scratch. Modern research has established that, in addition to unique taste characteristics, this wine also has medicinal properties. Due to its organic acids, flavonoids, vitamins and trace elements, as well as fructose and glucose in an easily digestible form, Black Doctor in therapeutic dosages is recommended for use in anemia and anemia of various etiologies, physical exhaustion and chronic fatigue syndrome, to improve functioning heart muscle and circulatory system in atherosclerosis.
Legend
Locals tell a legend about how this unusual wine appeared. According to her, in ancient times in the "Sun Valley" lived a doctor who knew not only the science of healing, but also practiced magic and studied the movement 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 wine grower. Unusual grape varieties grew on his site, from which he made drinks that could heal. Once his friend - the colonel - was badly wounded on a hunt. The villagers brought the dying doctor to the house of the Doctor, but he was not at home. Then, trying to help, good people gave the wounded man a healing wine, but they gave him not a small fraction, but a whole jug. The magic drink helped - the body was healed, but the mind was clouded. The Colonel did not recognize the Doctor who returned to his house and killed him. Sobering up the next morning, he realized what he had done, and from that moment he did not drink a drop of wine. The villagers of the Doctor preserved both his vines and the memory of that incident, calling one variety of grapes Ekim Kara, which means "Black Doctor", and the other - Jevat Kara, translated into Russian - "Black Colonel".
A bit of history
Legends and legends are, of course, romantic, but Black Doctor is a wine whose true story is no less dramatic. In the 30s of the last century, the production of fortified and dessert wines began to be established on the Crimean peninsula. It was decided to use including such an old local variety as Ekim Kara. On its basis, they began to produce “Ruby Crimean” - a tasty and high-quality wine, but it was not popular, and in the second half of the 20th century the question arose of stopping its production. The only thing that saved the wine from disappearance was the fact that one of the high-ranking Soviet officials was a great lover of it. In 1965, “Ruby Crimean” was renamed the “Black Doctor”. In the same year it was first put on a collection exposure. Despite the rather high price, this red grape wine was immediately loved by customers in the Soviet Union and became one of the most popular and famous. At the end of the 70s of the last century, most European, including Crimean vineyards, were almost destroyed by phylloxera - aphids imported from America. To save the vines, all grape varieties growing in the Crimea had to be grafted onto the cuttings of American vines resistant to this pest. We managed to save the unique varieties, only the quality of grapes and the special taste possessed by Crimean wines have changed somewhat. This happened because American varieties take much more moisture from the soil and store much less sugar. Experts say that all this played a role in impoverishing the taste characteristics of wines.
Alarming decades
By the end of the 70s of the XX century, the vines of the main grape varieties used for the production of the “Black Doctor”, such as Kefesiya and Ekim Kara, grew old and needed updating and re-laying. However, due to some incomprehensible bureaucratic "troubles" in the Soviet bureaucratic machine, funds were not allocated for this.
In the next thirty years, the factory-farm “Solar Valley” underwent many organizational changes. During this time, he managed to leave the Massandra, join the factory producing New World champagne wines and transform in 2001 into OJSC Sunny Valley. Wine “Black Doctor” “Massandra” did not produce from the 80s of the last century until 2003, since the “Sunny Valley”, which came out of it, had all the information about the technology of formation, processing and aging and, in accordance with it, produced This wine is made from original local grapes.
What now?
Relatively recently, the Massandra winery was allowed to produce the Black Doctor. The wine obtained here does not have those unique taste qualities, since Ekim Kara grapes are cultivated in completely different soil and climatic conditions.
In addition, only the “Sunny Valley” has a patented recipe for the preparation of this wine, while “Massandra” uses its composition and the quantitative ratio of different grape varieties when cooking. Thus, today the Black Doctor wine - Crimean pride - is produced by two different enterprises: “Sunny Valley” and “Massandra”. And it significantly differs in both taste and aromatic and biological properties.
Taste Features
What is so special about this brand of wine, how does it differ from others made in the Crimea? Scientists from the Magarach Institute conducted a series of studies which concluded that the unique taste, bouquet and color palette of Crimean red dessert wines depends on the amount of phenolic complexes and tannins contained in them. Unlike others, "Black Doctor" - wine produced by "Sunny Valley" - is more saturated with phenols, flavonoids, as well as higher alcohols and esters responsible for aroma and taste. Scientists also managed to establish that the differences in the composition of the Black Doctor wine from other brands produced in other areas are due to:
- unique soils and climatic conditions of the area where local grapes are cultivated;
- a certain varietal composition of sepages;
- winemaking traditions of a particular region.
Feedback from connoisseurs
About unique Crimean wines: champagne and table, vintage and fortified, sweet and dry, semisweet and signature - you can talk endlessly.
Professional sommeliers and tasters leave positive reviews for most of the Crimean wines on the modern market. In addition, many wines, such as New World champagne, were awarded a gold medal at the International Wine and Spirits Competition in Moscow and won the Grand Prix, while Massandra Madeira is on the list of the best world wines. The most titled is the “Black Doctor” beloved in the entire post-Soviet space from the “Sunny Valley” - he has five silver and twenty gold medals.
How much is?
Already in the distant Soviet times fortified wine “Black Doctor” was quite expensive. Today, his price is also high - from 1300 in Crimean stores, but in the cities of European Russia less than 1500 rubles are unlikely to be found. Collectible copies of the Soviet era are, like any rare and exclusive objects, very expensive. Many are interested in what the price of a particular wine depends on. First of all, from the variety, quantity and quality of grapes, yield per year of wine production, technological conditions of its production and aging period, as well as other nuances. If you decide to try such a unique brand of fortified vintage wine as “Black Doctor”, you should buy it in company stores, carefully reading the information on the label. Remember that today only two Crimean enterprises are engaged in its production and bottling: “Sunny Valley” and “Massandra”. All other manufacturers simply do not have legal rights to manufacture it.