Hi All,
In a few months, I’m hosting for my monthly group the theme of Eastern Europe (both white or reds). I suspect this will be an exploratory tasting so any insight on some winners would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Lou
If the wines of Blue Danube Imports are available in your area you can’t go wrong: http://www.bluedanubewine.com/
My wife and I are big fans of Hungarian wine and brought 2 cases back from Hungary last November. Their are plenty of regions, producers and varietals to explore; various combos of these are hit and miss but you usually can’t go wrong with Bordeaux varietals in Villány and Szekszárd regions and dry whites in Tokaji (Furmint and Hárslevelű.) They can be difficult to find in the US but Blue Danube does some mail order and you can ask your local shop to track some down. Our shop did. There are also some very good reds made with Kekfrankos and Kadarka that can be fun - I could go on… Anyway, a few producers that you should have no problem finding in the US - if you ask around - are Bock, Tiffan, Szepsy (dry Tokaji), Attila Gere (the Solus Merlot is incredible), Takler and Vylyan
Weird. First attempt didn’t post so I’ll try again.
This would be a good intro to Greece. For white, a Santorini assyrtiko. Sigalas Assyrtiko is great. For red, a xinomavro. Katogi & Strofilia 2005 Xinomavro is extremely good. If you have room for one more, an agiorgitiko. Tselepos 2007 Agriorgitiko is one of the best I’ve had. All three grapes are native and from different areas of the country.
Another recommendation for Sigalas here. In xinomavro I like Ramnista and Karydas. I know zip about the rest of eastern Europe except that Georgian amphorae wines seem to be the rage amongst the hipsters lately, or at least those hipsters that get the junket invitations.
Grgic Vina in Croatia makes a very good red (Plavac Mali) but the white is a real winner, particularly after 24 hours of air.
Georgian wine is the rage among hipsters? really? every time I open a Georgian wine people don’t know what to make of it. Regardless of what hipsters do or don’t like, I recommend throwing a Georgian wine in there. The only problem is, like other Eastern European wines, finding them. Look for reds made in the Kakheti region. Reds from saperavi and whites from tsinandali are good. If you can find any cabernet or mavrud from Bulgaria’s Thracian valley, I’d recommend that as well. Again, it’s just about finding them in the states. I lived in Eastern Europe for a while and was amazing by the amount of wines from available from Georgia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, even southern Russia. My experience with this wines is largely what I’ve been able to bring back from overseas, so I realize that might not be very helpful. Still, I applaud you for trying this tasting!
Thanks for all the good feedback! Keep em coming if you find them. This could be a useful reference thread for anyone else who’s interested.
Cheers,
Lou
Is Chateau Bela Riesling still available from Egon Muller? I believe it’s Slovakia. I’ve enjoyed it in the past.
Agree with Sigalas Assyrtico(white) except that I would get the non-blended unoaked version for a good clean representation of this grape. Staying in Greece I would pick an Agriorgitiko(red) from Nemea region…like Skouras or Gaia.
I had a bottle of the Gaia ‘Notios’ White yesterday from Nemea and found it to be delicious. 50% Moschcofilero and 50% Roditis. It’s quite minerally with flavors of apricot and lemon oil and nice acidity.
Might make some sense to split the tasting into a white flight and a red flight?