CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF WINE VRANAC IN THE SKADAR LAKE BASIN (MONTENEGRO)

The sector of wine growing and winemaking in Montenegro has over the past few years been developing intensively. Area under vineyards and production of red wines in both regions of the Montenegrin basin of the Lake of Skadar and Montenegrin coastal region has been significantly increasing. The Vranac grape variety and wine dominates the plantations and production, which is why understanding the quality of this wine in Montenegro, is of particular importance. This paper presents the results of our research of the Vranac wine produced in various localities with a view to obtaining the data valid for typisation of properties of this national brand. Over the period of three years, from 2008 to 2010, nine Vranac wines from eight localities in the Montenegrin basin of the Skadar Lake that belong to the Podgorički and Crmnički sub-regions were studied. Meteorological conditions were observed, chemical composition of wine was analysed and sensory properties of wine using the OIV method were appraised. The wines were analysed while young. There were no differences in mean monthly temperatures in the years of the research, while precipitation in the grape ripening period in 2010 was higher in both sub-regions under research. The values of the Huglin index were lower in the Crmnički sub-region (2900-3100) than in Podgorički (3400-3600). The chemical analysis established that all wines tested had a high alcohol content (from 12.8 to 13.7 vol%) and extract (25.4-27.2 g/l) and a low level of total acids (4.8 to 5.5 g/l) on average by years. Sensory appraisal of wine shows that the highest scoring wines was vintage 2009, and that the wines produced in localities with longer tradition have continuously been achieving superior quality, while in all others the wine quality varied by years observed.