Plantaže Vranac Pro Corde 2007

In lieu of having much of anything interesting to say about this wine, I’ll posit that this wine is good for the following things:

  • Advancing the typographically correct argument that ‘Former Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro’ would put the producer at an unfair competitive disadvantage, what with having to spend even more money on a longer label, potentially advancing a similar argument for Macedonia
  • Assuming that there is in fact an ex-pat Montenegrin community somewhere in the world, this would be the perfect thing to sell at a reasonable markup to make the joint feel classier than it is
  • Helping wine geeks advance their quest to join the Wine Century Club
  • Should the negotiations to join the EU stall, sending a few cases of this to highly placed Party members in Brussels probably couldn’t hurt
  • Drinking

Grapey, straightforward, and clean, it’s hard to pick out anything exceptionally good about this wine. On the other hand, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it either. It’s well made, modern, slightly thin at first on the palate, but quickly firms up a bit, offering spicy, plummy fruit before falling off into a surprisingly long finish with hints of fruitcake and brandy. In short, nothing wrong here and also nothing to make you want to buy another bottle right away. Being old enough to remember the bad old days of truly wretched Eastern European wine, I’m delighted that this is so good; even more importantly, any country that makes wine of this quality sure feels like they belong in the EU. Good luck!Plantaže
Price: $17
Closure: Cork
Source: Retail