Product: Enjingi Venje Crno
Country: Croatia
Region: Kutjevo
Producer: Enjingi
Closure: Wine Cork
Alcohol: 14.50%

Manufacture dates on images and products are representative only. All bottles sold at Witrina are updated from the latest safra.

Crno Venje is the red counterpart to Ivan Enjingi's famous white: Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, Frankovka, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, picked late in the Venje vineyard above Vetovo and matured eighteen months in oak before it goes to bottle, where it rests for years more.

The Enjingi family planted its first vines at Hrnjevac in 1890. Ivan Enjingi farms about fifty hectares on the slopes of Krndija in the Kutjevo hills, uses no selected yeasts, and lets most of his wine mature in Slavonian oak. He is credited with bringing Croatia its first Decanter gold.

The nose is strong and perfumed, with sweet, over-ripe fruit, warmth, a discreet oak note and flowers. The palate is full, almost syrupy in its ripeness, then cut by a sharp freshness that keeps it lively. It changes in the glass over an hour or two, so give it time.

Decant it and serve with roast duck, venison or a long-cooked beef stew.

The Enjingi family planted its first vines at Hrnjevac, in the Kutjevo hills of Slavonia, in 1890. Ivan Enjingi started with 2,000 inherited vines, planted the first plantation vineyards in the former Yugoslavia in 1965 and switched from barrel to bottle sales in 1972. He farms about fifty hectares at Venje, Hrnjevac and Mitrovac, ferments only with natural yeasts, matures most wines in Slavonian oak, and is credited with Croatia's first Decanter gold.