Kadarka

Kadarka is a Balkan red grape, probably Albanian in origin, that spread north with Serbian settlement and became one of the defining varieties of Hungary. It was the traditional base of Egri Bikavér, the wine known in English as Bull's Blood, before kékfrankos displaced it.

It gives a pale, light-bodied, spicy red with red berry fruit, high acidity and a distinct paprika and white pepper note. It ripens late and unevenly, is prone to rot and produces variable yields, which is why the Soviet-era state farms replaced most of it with easier grapes. That decision cost Hungary its most characteristic red.

Plantings are now small but recovering, mostly in Szekszárd and Eger in Hungary and across the border in Serbia's Vojvodina, where it is called skadarka. It is a grape that rewards the current interest in light, aromatic, food-friendly reds, and it is likely to be better known in ten years than it is now.