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Vranac is Montenegro's signature red grape, and the Crmnica valley above Lake Skadar is where it comes from. Today it covers about half of the country's vineyards, from small family plots around Virpazar to the huge Ćemovsko polje near Podgorica. The best way to meet it is at a family table in Crmnica, with smoked carp from the lake and a raw Crmnica onion on the side.
The cradle of vranac
Crmnica is the valley that runs down from the coastal mountains to Virpazar on Lake Skadar. It has been called the most fertile part of Montenegro, and the national tourist board calls it the cradle of vranac. This is where the black grape first grew, and where it was first described, by Mitar Plamenac in 1891.
Its parents are now known. Its father is kratošija, the old Dalmatian and Montenegrin grape known elsewhere as Zinfandel and Primitivo, and its mother is duljenga, a rare local variety. Vranac is, in other words, a true native.
Half of Montenegro's vineyards
From Crmnica the grape spread across the south of the country. In 2021 vranac covered 1,346 hectares, 51 per cent of all Montenegro's vineyards. Much of it now grows on the red soil of the Zeta plain near Podgorica, where Plantaže's Ćemovsko polje is billed as Europe's largest single-parcel vineyard. Its 2,310 hectares hold more than 11.5 million vines, well over half of them vranac, and the harvest there lasts five to six weeks. The company's Šipčanik cellar sits in a former military airport tunnel more than 30 metres underground.
But Crmnica is still the place where vranac is a family affair. Villages such as Godinje, Limljani, Brčeli and Orahovo are full of small cellars, and many of them pour their own wine at their own tables. The harvest runs from mid-September into October.
What to eat with it
Vranac is poured with whatever the valley and the lake provide. Crmnica tables mean smoked carp, dried over pomegranate or willow wood until the flesh turns red, carp baked with prunes and quinces, and the mild, sweet Crmnica onion, which Slow Food lists in its Ark of Taste and which is eaten raw with fish. Up the road, Njeguški pršut and cheese are the natural match.
Tasting it at the source
The Bar tourist board lists a dozen Crmnica cellars on its Wine Trails and Tales route. Most want a call or a message before you come: family wineries are homes first. Virpazar is the easy base, with lake boats leaving from its harbour, and it hosts the Wine and Bleak Festival in late winter, when Crmnica winemakers set up stands through the village, and a grape festival in September.
