Kallmet
Albania · Red · Available (A–B)
Northern Albania around Lezhë and Shkodër, named for the village of Kallmet. The same variety as Hungary’s Kadarka and Bulgaria’s Gamza. The Vatican commissioned a map of the Lezhë and Mirdita municipalities in 1689 on the reporting of the Albanian Catholic bishop Frang Bardhi, himself from Kallmet, who described a flourishing local viticulture probably connected to this vine. Medium-bodied and ruby-coloured with cherry and dried fig, loosely comparable to a lighter Sangiovese, with some plantings extending into Kosovo — and the label most likely to appear on a specialist shelf abroad. Bright acidity, smooth tannins and ageing potential, showing plum, cherry and warm spice, often oak-aged.