According to the 2010 Census, 84.5% of Bali’s population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, 12% to Islam, while most of the remainder followed Christianity. A tourist haven for decades, the province has seen a further surge in tourist numbers in recent years.
Well , yes , Even In Bali they make wines ! When i first heard it, i was quite surprised to hear that in Bali they are making wines; then i met a couple few days ago while i was having a coffee in one of my favorite bar and they started telling me about the last vacation they had and about a very interesting wine they had tasted with a familiar name , Pino The Bali . Since i am pretty interested to the NEW NEW WINE’S WORLD , we spent few more minutes to talk about it....And , i found it fascinating : the grapes used are the local Propolinggo Biru, the French table grape Alphonse-Lavallée and the Belgia (Muscat of Alexandria family)
About Propolinggo Biru i am not able to find out satisfactory information, maybe i need to do more researches on it, however i have found some interesting news but about Alphonse- Lavallèe ( picture on the right ).
It is a vigorous variety, late bud-burst. Ripening vary from middle of August until the beginning of October, but in Bali the vines produces grapes constantly all year long , practically 120 days per year ! . It is also cultivated in Valencia and Alicante, with or without trellis.
It's characteristics are: Medium–big cluster, with an arm, conic-cylindrical shape and loose;
Black colour grapes, big size and firmly tight to the stem. Juicy, soft pulp. Abundant pruina film covers its grapes. Good transport and manipulation resistance.
It is one of the most attractive variety for consumers.
Even the Belgia grape is a kind of rare one , as i was looking for some information for long time and i was not capable to find out anything interesting , we can say that it is a rare French table grape as well as Alphonse-Lavallèe.
This is Propolinggo Biru ( Picture on the left )
The winery , the one who has started the wine production in Bali is called Hatten , and just to make you an idea , they say that they released almost 300 vintage of their rosè in 17 years !!
Unbelievable for a normal climate ! The Vineyards are cultivated using the ” Pergola ” method, or better; a pergola-blogwhich that consist to use trees or poles ( wooden or cement ) close to each others to form like a Roof , trained into an overhead trellis to protect the farmers from the sun during the harvesting and the grape from the sunburn and diseases . The vines are constantly pruned ( easy to understand why ). I think , following also what i read , the problem in this region consist in an countless insects , which i bet carry on diseases and creates problems to the plant infecting the roots and fruits .
The wine production consist in a rosè produced with Alphonse-Lavallée grape , the most famous one and first released on 1994 called Haitten Rose wine.
Then a white , dry , made with Belgia , called Aga White , a red wine made with Alphonse-Lavallée called Aga red , the Alexandra wine produced with Belgia harvesting over ripped grapes obtaining a sweet wine, the Tunjung sparkling wine , champenoise brut made with Probolinggo Biru , another sparkling called Jeplung sparkling wine but rosè , with champenoise method and using Alphonse-Lavallée grape, which is slightly sweet .
The last one is the one that the couple spoke about : Pino De Bali.
This wine is made taking the inspiration from the french pineau de charentes , a fortified wine produced adding cognac before the end of the fermentation , famous in Charente- Meritime and Charente area ( AOC ) .
They use Alphonse-Lavallée & Belgia grapes plus the solera system with 5 years of oak maturation. Described as aperitif wine , i think is better suggested as dessert wine with a cheese pairing but , since i have never been in Bali and never tasted the wines as well, let say that i will book the ticket to take a look personally ?.
Enjoy !
