Eastern European Wines
Posted on Sat 21st Feb 2015 at 11:31
Once upon a time, socialites and wine enthusiasts in the UK were very partial to a drop of Eastern European wine.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, in fact, many Eastern European wines were prized for both their flavour and value. Yet this was not to last: having finally developed good quality wines and overcome the stigma attached to their previous output, wine growers in Eastern Europe were stymied by interference from their socialist governments and a lack of external investment. In 1996, for example, Bulgaria exported 30 million litres of wine to the UK; now it's closer to just 3 million. This problem was compounded by British supermarkets, who began to focus on selling popular, recognisable wines at extremely low prices.
Today, it is hard to find an Eastern European wine in a supermarket, and with wine being sold on promotion under £5 (given that, at this price, you'll be paying less than 40 pence towards the actual wine), it's not hard to imagine that you're not going to find a lot of quality there. This is a sad and infuriating development for anyone who loves Eastern European wine, because countries such as Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Georgia and Romania produce some beautiful wines that deserve to be tasted by a UK audience. These regions all make popular wines such as Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay for our supermarkets, yet also produce excellent wines with their own grape varieties that would easily win back their vineyards' good reputation. Fortunately, thanks to wine experts such as Jancis Robinson, Eastern European wines are rapidly becoming known as the smart buy for anyone looking for excellent value, flavoursome wines, and can be found at an increasing number of independent retailers. Bulgarian and Hungarian wines are already popularly known as 'the next big thing', but if you want to be at the forefront of this wine renaissance and snap up the true bargains, look no further than the wines of Macedonia.
You can read comments from Janis on the Stobi Vranec here. Producing wines of equal quality to those of its neighbours, Macedonia is still largely undiscovered by the wine community but, if you try our Stobi range, you'll see why this is changing. With tasty indigenous grapes such as Vranec and vineyards set in stunning scenery, the country has as much to offer wine lovers as any other. Most importantly, you'll be hard pressed to find wines of this quality for such affordable prices anywhere else - order a selection of Stobi today and see for yourself!