… is central and eastern Europe. A slightly shorter version of this article is published by the Financial Times.
Since Brexit, importing wine into the UK, even through tried and tested channels, has become a bureaucratic pain. So, imagine the amount of work required to import sample bottles from as many as 55 producers, most of them without UK importers, based in 15 central and eastern European countries.
Such was the task facing Hungarian wine marketeer Zsuzsa Toronyi and Master of Wine Caroline Gilby when they decided to organise the groundbreaking Ultimate CEE Wine Fair in London last June, an event they billed as ‘The Next Big Thing in Wine’.
Their argument centres on the wide variety of indigenous grape varieties, the winemaking skill now evident in these countries, and ‘amazing personal stories’. The fashionable word ‘authentic’ featured three times in their sales pitch, and to judge from the 60 wines I tasted, the hype is justified. It helped that Gilby has been specialising in central and eastern European wine for decades so was well able to pick out reliable and interesting producers from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
A total of more than 500 wines were shown in the airy vastness of St John’s Church, Waterloo, shown above – far too many for a single taster – so I split the task with my colleague Tamlyn Currin and concentrated on what was on offer from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Romania and Ukraine while she tasted wines from the other countries represented.
For obvious reasons the Ukrainian table, showing off the wares of the Ukrainian Wine Company UK, won the sympathy vote. In the tasting booklet the company wrote, ‘we have our own identity and an unbelievable desire to share our taste of freedom with you’ and explained that they represent seven hand-picked wineries in what is left of Ukraine’s terroirs. (Crimea used to be their vinous trump card.) I was especially taken by Beykush winery’s rendition of a grape speciality of the Odessa region supposedly imported long ago from Turkey. Their Telti-Kuruk 2022 had really mouth-filling, peachy fruit and admirable structure.
Only one Armenian winery was represented in the main part of the tasting, Keush Family Winery, whose sparkling K2 Blanc de Blancs 2019 from Voskehat grapes was nothing like champagne but was hugely satisfying with its refreshing lemon-curd flavours. Liberty Wines already import Zorah’s excellent Armenian wines into the UK.
Of the other countries whose wines I tasted, Croatia was the most stimulating. The wines, especially those from Istria in the far north of the country, seemed to have an extra layer of sophistication. The region’s special white-wine grape Malvazija Istarska (nothing to do with most other Malvasias) produces full-bodied wines with an apple-skin character, real grip and ageing potential. My favourite examples at the tasting were made, respectively, by the well-established Kozlović winery and the much younger enterprise owned by the unfortunately named Fakin family.
Each of them also showed an exceptional example of the local red-wine grape Teran, whose wines can be tough in youth, but the trend is now to pick grapes a bit riper, so with more generous fruit. Elsewhere it’s called Terrano.
South from Istria on Brač, one of the more than a thousand islands that dot the turquoise Adriatic, Jako Vino's Stina is an excellent 2023 example of the local Pošip grape variety, a white wine so marine-scented that it reminded me of Galician Albariño. It’s also, unlike most of the wines shown at St John’s, available in the UK (see below). Jako Vina's Stina 2019 Plavac Mali is made from the ancient Croatian red-wine grape that is closely related to Zinfandel (which in its native Croatia goes by the delightful name Tribidrag).
Vislander make another good Plavac Mali from a single vineyard on the island of Vis, as well as a fine version of the island’s aromatic Vugava white-wine grape with its apricot and grapefruit sensations. Just one more example of a wine that is unique to its source.
The other country whose wines really excited me, billed as a ‘guest’ at this tasting, was Cyprus. I am keenly aware that talk of wine revolutions has been cheap but wine production on this far eastern Mediterranean island really has been completely transformed, from four big companies making cheap copies of sherry and oxidised table wines shipped in bulk to Russia to, now, a host of independent winemakers turning out wines of real finesse and interest. Factors include cool nights in vineyards up to 1,500 m (4,921 ft) above the sea, ungrafted vines because the island is phylloxera-free, and a propitious limestone base in many vineyards.
Zambartas seemed the best of the seven wineries represented at the tasting and, like most, produces some very decent dry white from the island’s Xynisteri and Promara grape varieties. Cypriot red wines of distinction are starting to be made from the local Lefkada and Maratheftiko grapes. The best Cypriot wine I tasted, however, was of a type that has been made on the island for centuries, the rich, dark, sweet, oak-aged Commandaria 2016 from Kyperounda: Christmas in a bottle.
There are apparently about 50 wineries in mountainous Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wines from just two of them were shown in London, both from near Mostar in Herzegovina, site of the terrible siege of 1992. Carska Vina’s name translates as Imperial Wine, a reference to the time when this region was an important supplier of wine to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Both it and Škegro Family Winery make excellent examples of firm, characterful white wine from the local Žilavka grape which seemed much more successful than the reds from local varieties Blatina and Trnjak.
The selection from Romania, home to many a Feteascǎ vine, was more variable than some, but then Romania is already better represented on the UK market than most of these countries, as was evident in a special section of the tasting devoted to wines already imported into the UK.
The standout Romanian producer in the main tasting was Galicea Mare and not just because of the Hawaiian shirt and colourful trilby worn by owner and restorer of the winery Iosefin Florea. His 2018 dry white Tămâioasă Românească from old, organically cultivated vines was one of the oldest wines shown and was still going very strong indeed. This Muscat wine had almost lost its youthful grapiness and was now a complex, dry white with real structure.
In very general terms, the whites in the tasting were even better than the reds, which tended to be a little less fresh aromatically and to demonstrate a certain eastern European enthusiasm for tannin over fruit.
But overall the experience of so many new flavours and names convinced me that, as the organisers promised, ‘Central and Eastern European wines should be on the radar of anyone seeking the next big wine story’.
Eastern promise
White
Aurelia Visinescu, Nomad Feteascǎ Regala 2023 Dealu Mare, Romania 12%
The 2022 is £15.15 Le Vignoble and £15.50 Highbury Vintners but the 2023 is expected soon.
Beykush Telti-Kuruk 2022 Mykolaiv, Ukraine 12.5%
£27 Ukrainian Wine Co
Clai, Sveti Jakov Malvazija Istarska 2019 Istria, Croatia 15%
£36.24 Howard Ripley
Feravino, Dika Graševina 2022 Slavonia, Croatia 12.5%
£14.50 London End Wines, £14.95 T B Watson of Dumfries, £15.95 Harris & Co of Castle Douglas
Galicea Mare Tămâioasă Românească 2018 Oltenia, Romania 12.5%
About £15 in both Meats Bazar and Prahova convenience stores around London
Jako Vino, Stina Pošip 2023 Brač, Croatia 13.5%
£29.03 Strictly Wine, £29.64 Great Wines Direct, £33.73 Corking Wines
Testament Pošip 2020 Dalmatia, Croatia 12.5%
£20 Croatian Fine Wines, £21.99 Novel Wines
Red
Aurelia Visinescu, Artisan Feteascǎ Neagrǎ 2020 Dealu Mare, Romania 14%
£21.50 The Old Cellar and, soon, The Jolly Merchants
Testament, Dalmatian Dog Babic 2018 Dalmatia, Croatia 13%
£14.99 Novel Wines, £19 Croatian Fine Wines
Zambartas’s excellent Cypriot wines are being shipped to Maltby & Greek for sale from October.
Members of JancisRobinson.com have access to the tasting notes, scores and suggested drinking dates on all 60 wines I tasted. See Central and Eastern European Wines, part 1 – Mediterranean and Central and Eastern European Wines, part 3 – Black Sea. For international stockists, see Wine-Searcher.com.