Grape Guide
Băbească Neagră
RedBăbească Neagră is an old red grape of eastern Romania and the Republic of Moldova, traditionally linked to the Nicorești area of Galați county. It ripens late and gives pale to medium-coloured, lightly structured reds with bright acidity and sour-cherry fruit, mostly drunk young and locally, though a small group of growers now aims for more serious bottlings.
Key characteristics
- Late-ripening, vigorous vine with loose, thin-skinned bunches
- Prone to poor fruit set (millerandage), especially at high yields
- Frost hardy to about -18 C, but vulnerable to botrytis, mildews and drought
- Old variety with colour mutations (Băbească Albă, Băbească Gri) and local biotypes
- Romania held 4,516 ha in 2008; the Republic of Moldova had roughly 80 to 100 ha
Typical flavors
Major regions
Galați and Nicorești (Romania) · Odobești, Vrancea (Romania) · Huși (Romania) · Southern Romania (Danube terraces) · Purcari (Republic of Moldova) · Orhei and Ialoveni (Republic of Moldova)
Also known as
Rară Neagră (Republic of Moldova) · Băbească · Căldărușă · Crăcană · Poama Rară Neagră (Republic of Moldova) · Sereksia (Ukraine) · Sereksiya Charni (Finger Lakes · USA) · Asîl Kara (Daghestan)
Băbească Neagră is a black-berried wine grape grown chiefly in the eastern Romanian county of Galați and its neighbours, and across the border in the Republic of Moldova, where it is known as Rară Neagră. The first part of its name comes from a Romanian word for an old woman, and the colour of the berries is deeper than the colour of the wine they produce. Typical examples are translucent ruby, light to medium in body, with sour cherry, red plum and a faintly herbal edge, and with acidity that stands well above what most continental reds show.
Through most of the twentieth century it was a volume grape, bottled as plain regional red for the home market. Since the 2000s a handful of estates, above all around Purcari in southeastern Moldova, have cut yields, selected better clones and used oak or concrete ageing to show a more polished style. Romanian plantings have fallen substantially from the early 2000s, but the grape is still among the country's most widely grown indigenous reds.
The variety is considered very old and native to Romanian Moldavia, with the Nicorești vineyards in Galați county, on the border with the Republic of Moldova, usually named as its cradle. Some documents are said to refer to it from the fourteenth century onward, although such early references are hard to verify and are best treated with caution. Its age shows in the diversity found within the variety: colour mutants such as Băbească Albă (white) and Băbească Gri (grey to pink berries) exist, along with local biotypes sometimes distinguished by names such as Coada Vulpii and Coada Rândunicii. Published DNA work has not established the parentage of Băbească Neagră itself.
Under the name Rară Neagră it was the foundation of the red wines of Purcari, in southeastern Moldova, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, before Cabernet Sauvignon was introduced to the region. The Negru de Purcari blend, which received a medal at Paris in 1878, is reported to have included it, though accounts of the exact composition differ. Related names are recorded far from Romania: Sereksia in Ukraine, Asîl Kara in Daghestan, and Sereksiya Charni in the Finger Lakes of New York.
Romanian breeders have used the variety as a parent. Arcaș (Cabernet Sauvignon x Băbească Neagră) and Codană (with Cabernet Sauvignon, associated with the Odobești area) are listed as crosses involving it.
The vine is vigorous, buds in mid-season and ripens late, so it needs a long, warm autumn to reach full maturity; in cool years sugar stays modest and acidity high. Bunches are medium to large and loose, carrying thin-skinned berries. It is prone to millerandage (uneven berry set), particularly when yields are high, which makes crop control the central decision for any grower seeking quality. The thin skins leave it exposed to botrytis bunch rot, and it is vulnerable to powdery and downy mildew and to drought stress. Its tolerance of winter cold, down to about -18 C, is a real asset in the harsh continental climate of eastern Romania and Moldova, where spring frost and hard winters limit the choice of varieties.
Most Băbească Neagră is made as a simple, unoaked, early-drinking red: pale to medium ruby, medium or light in body, with sour cherry and red plum, moderate alcohol and sharp acidity. Much of it is sold locally, in bulk or under regional labels, and it is often served slightly cool. Better producers lower yields, ferment with more extraction and age in used oak or concrete, which deepens colour and adds spice and a savoury, earthy note without hiding the cherry fruit. In the Republic of Moldova, where it appears as Rară Neagră, it is bottled as a varietal wine and is also blended, as in the Purcari reds, alongside varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Saperavi. The pink-berried mutation, Băbească Gri, is used to make a very fresh, mineral-leaning white wine in Huși, a rarity in the family.
Where it grows
Galați and Nicorești (Romania)
The largest share of Romanian plantings lies in Galați county in the east, and Nicorești is regarded as the variety's historic home and the source of its most characterful reds.
Odobești, Vrancea (Romania)
The Odobești vineyards, neighbouring Galați, are a second recognised centre for higher-quality examples, and are also where the cross Codană is grown.
Huși (Romania)
A small planting here of Băbească Gri, the variety's pink-skinned mutation, yields a clean, fresh white wine with limited fruit, a mineral character and a lime note on the finish.
Southern Romania
At the country's southern edge, a few growers working sandy terraces on the Danube's northern bank make more ambitious varietal wines than the norm, in contrast to the eastern heartland where simple regional red dominates.
Republic of Moldova
Planted under the name Rară Neagră on roughly 80 ha in 2009 and about 100 ha by the late 2010s, in zones such as Purcari, Orhei, Anenii Noi, Strășeni and Ialoveni; Château Purcari and Dionysos Mereni are among the producers working with it.