A trip around Central and Eastern Europe, in a church in Waterloo!
What a joy to experience the wines and the people who make them, across the breadth of greater Europe from Armenia to Ukraine at The Ultimate CEE Wine Fair, the genius idea of MW Caroline Gilby (a career-long champion of the region) and Wine Communications MD Zsuzsa Toronyi.
The venue was buzzing with anticipation. These are countries and wine regions that most UK students and wine-trade professionals know very little about. Not one of them is on the WSET curriculum, so there is much to discover.
At the Keush Family Wines stand I met Aimee Keushguerian, whose Armenian father sold his vineyard in Tuscany to return to his homeland and make wines with 50-year-old Areni grapes. His other passion is the ancient viticulture of Persia and 2021 he made the first Iranian wine since the Revolution in 1979, with an indigenous variety, Rasheh. Molana is fragrant and light-bodied underpinned by a not-obvious 14.5% alcohol.
In Bulgaria I meet Boyan Boev, who makes wine with his brother in vineyards close to the UNESCO-protected Srebarna Nature and Biosphere Reserve, home to the rare and endangered Pink Pelican. Their bright, fun labels tell you a lot about what’s in the bottle, limited edition craft wines made with indigenous varieties like Tamyanka. Their 2023 red blend, made from Marcela, Cabnernet Sauvignon and Rubin is ripe, well rounded, balanced and reminiscent of pinot-noir. Somewhat randomly, they make a wine for export to the Japanese market, from 55-year-old vines planted after a collaboration between Japanese and Bulgarian viticulturists, which established that the land around Kaynardzha was ‘more than good’ for planting Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m told it is an excellent match with seared beef and soy sauce!
Cyprus has been making wine for millennia, not just centuries, but not much of it leaves the island. Indigenous varieties such as Xynisteri and Maratheftiko are well adapted to dry farming and intense heat produce textural, aromatic whites and elegant reds. I tasted Xynisteri from three different producers made in three very distinct styles from an example acidulated for brightness to balance ripe fruit, through to the Vlassides Alatés which is fermented and aged in untoasted oak and delivers a remarkable salty twist on the finish that speaks to the island terroir.
Elizabeth Gabay MW’s masterclass introduced 8 wines from the southern, Danubian region of Slovakia. Cooler and higher than its neighbour Tokaj, in Hungary, and growing classic Central European varieties as well as indigenous ones, the most singular being the red grape Dunaj, a laboratory hybrid crossing of several varieties including Muscat and Bouchet that can produce extremely tannic and quite whiffy wines (although there are a few excellent examples).
Romanian Iosefin Florea is the colourful new owner at Mosia Galicea Mare in Oltenia who has built a state-of-the art winery on the estate and is making wines with old-vines indigenous Feteasca Neagra and fragrant Tamaioasa Romaneasca (Romanian muscat), as well as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Gris. The new temperature-controlled winery allows for more controlled fermentation after high-tech sorting, although he wryly admits that as a businessman-turned winemaker he has had to learn the hard way. “My first vintage was 2017, we had an easy year. 2018 was hard, we learned a lot.”
The 2017 Elegance is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. With 26 months in large-grain new oak and at 14.5% abv it is warm and spicy, with big, bold dark fruit flavours – something to take on Napa Valley, for sure.
Other highlights included Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Georgia, Hungary and Wines of Bohemia.
I particularly liked Odesa Black VIP Wine Selection from Villa Tinta in Ukraine, a rich, ripe, full-bodied red wine from an indigenous grape, delivering blackcurrant, spice and warmth.
Many of these wines are available in the UK (Howard Ripley, Liberty Wines, Malux Hungarian Wine & Spirits, Novel Wines, The Jolly Merchants). Go get ‘em!
More on great wines and best food pairings here and here
© Linda Galloway 2024