🍇 Sevar

Sevar is a red wine grape from the Czech Republic, an interspecific hybrid. According to VIVC, it was crossed in 1964 by Václav Křivánek: the mother is Seyve-Villard 12-358 and the father St. Laurent (Svatovavřinecké in Czech). The breeders wanted a variety more resistant to fungal diseases and frost. According to VIVC, only 1 collection keeps a sample of the variety.

The road to registration was long. Preliminary trials at the breeding station in Polešovice (Moravia) ran from 1982 to 1984; in 1992 the variety was submitted for registration in Bratislava, but testing was not completed because the federation split. A new application was filed in 2002 by the Polešovice viticultural breeding station and the breeder Alois Tománek, and on 27 October 2008 the Czech variety office ÚKZÚZ entered Sevar in the state variety book.

Over three years of official trials the average yield was 17.36 t/ha, the sugar content of the juice 16.63 °NM and the acidity 9.03 g/l. The variety is medium-early: it ripens fully in the middle ten days of September, a few days before Blauer Portugieser. It resists downy mildew, powdery mildew and grey mould, so it manages without chemical protection and suits organic viticulture; its frost hardiness is on a par with Blaufränkisch. The wine is dark red, with aromas of raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, redcurrant and blueberry, and is ready to drink in its first year.

Why it matters to you. Sevar shows that a red variety can be grown without chemical protection: according to the trials, it resists downy mildew, powdery mildew and grey mould. And its wine is meant to be young and fruity — it can be drunk in its first year, while in blends the variety adds colour.