 Have you ever tried a wine from Moldova before? Have you? Yeah. Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Maddie Orkey. Hi, I'm Sharine Tan. Welcome back to the show. Have you ever tried a wine from Moldova before? Have you? Yeah. So guys, that's all this episode is going to be about, about the wines of Moldova. We just spent a week there traveling through. We went to about three cellars a day, tastings at night. We tasted, I think I counted over 150 wines during that week. It was an intense but really good comprehensive introduction to Moldovan wine. The Republic of Moldova is a separate country. It's a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. The border is actually Ukraine on the east and then the EU to the west. Romania is the border. There is a region called Moldavia in Romania. So just not to get that confused because the Republic of Moldova is its own country. You got to understand that in the past it was part of the USSR. It was like the vineyards of the Soviet Union, so to speak. They were producing actually most of the wine that was consumed. And once they became independent, the biggest market was Russia for a long time until the Russians had an embargo in 2006-2009. From then on Moldova had to start increasing quality so they could export to the western markets. And that's where the modern Moldovan wine story begins. And in a way that story is also kind of related or similar to Georgia. So what happened to Georgia with Russia and that pushed Georgian wine forward? Even though there's a long history of wine making there, the modern wine industry is fairly new, fairly recent. There's three main regions. The country is small. We have Kojo in the center and the north. In the southeast we have Stefan Voda. And then in the southwest, I don't know if I'm going to be pronouncing this right, it's Valu Nutran. I'll put it up on the screen. Maybe I'm pronouncing it wrong. My Romanian Moldovan is not very good. Kojo, you're going to see more whites, more aromatic whites, some cool climate reds. In the two regions of the south, that's where more of the red wines are being made. And you can taste it in the wine that progressively as you move towards the south. The Cabernet Sauvignon, the Molo actually got bigger. And also we taste the Fitesca Negra, a local red wine from the three regions as well, made in three different regions. And every single one of them expressed different fruit profile, also different weight and balance on the palate. So yeah, you were saying the IGT system you think is a good thing. Those three regions are very good. I think it makes sense. In Moldova you're going to find a whole range of producers, from small boutique, garage to maybe some bigger enterprises with super modern wine making equipment, a lot of investment, to humongous factories that used to focus on bulk wine, but now want to do bottled wine. Among white wines, you're going to find a lot of local, original aromatic white grapes, in addition to Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling. What are some of your impressions of the whites? For me, I really enjoy some of the aromatic whites, because sometimes aromatic whites can be too overwhelming and heavy. But in Moldova, I found quite a couple of more gently aromatic badlands with acidity sort of white. And it's not just one of those like, you know, bringers, light white, but when you understand the food, the condition, or rather the weather in Moldova, it actually really makes sense. I mean, I really like some of the aromatic whites in the local dish called Mamaliga, which is cornbread, cheese, sour cream, and meat. So yeah, those aromatic white really goes well with certain local food. You're going to find grapes that you also find in Romania, like Fritesca Alba, Fritesca Regala, but there's also a unique Moldovan cross called Via Ritza, which is aromatic and has a sweet use, quite good, didn't you think? And now is really an interesting time to explore Moldova, just like many other less known wine countries as well, because they're putting into a lot of effort into understanding their local varieties, how to cultivate them properly, and they're constantly new local varieties being commercialized and then they're into wine as well. Another style is sparkling wine. Actually, Moldova has a long history of producing sparkling wine. Kiko Vest Sellers, a state-owned company, produces millions and millions of bottles of sparkling wine that are enjoyed by the locals. They were exported to the Soviet Union, exported to Russia currently all over the world. There's a high quality value for Moldovan sparklers, right? We found a couple of examples that was aged for several years on the lease, but what surprised me is, I really like some of those aromatic, a little bit sweet kind of sparkling wine, because it has a place. It really has a place on the warm day, or when you're out barbecuing with friends. I never thought I would like a style of wine, but when I drank it, I thought it was so balanced, it was so much fun that you start imagining scenarios and you realize that, hey, that wine actually makes sense. I want it. For those pesky international red grapes, of course you're going to have Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even Maubach. I remind of your Maubach. Yes, I know exactly. So, first of all, you know, there are some very good wines being made on the international red wine grapes right now. Personally, I would, Pinot Noir, I would skip maybe a little bit, but the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon blends even with Maubach are very interesting. What do you think? Yeah, especially the Cabernet and Merlot, you would expect often when it comes to the less known wine regions, other coming regions, they will make their style of wine into like the oak monster. Of course, you get a couple of those examples, but I think predominantly the Bordeaux blend and Modova, they are quite smart. What I like most about it is they have the cheaper affordable offering like five euros, six euros. You can actually get really decent Bordeaux blends. We even had one that's from 2009. It's unbelievable. And then you can also go up to like 30 euros, 20 something euros for a very good Bordeaux blend as well. Yeah, I actually find that to be very exciting. I know wine snaps will turn their nose up at international groups being made in these upcoming regions, but I think Modova can compete very strongly in the mid-range when it comes to Bordeaux blends because these ones are delicious, delicious, have a hint of complexity, they're food friendly, and they're really enjoyable overall. Yeah, I think the very strong edge that Modova has as well as when they make Bordeaux blend with some of the regional varieties, we tasted a grape from Ukraine as well. Is that bastado? I can't remember. Bastado. Bastado. I can't remember. Yeah, something close to the word bastard, but anyway, there was also a very interesting blend made out of it. Again, those are grapes that shows the regional or the history of Modova, where it comes from and all that, but mixed with Cabernet and Molo, the international output of wine. They have their own local regional grapes, they're also found in Modova called Fitesca Negra, Rara Negra as well. I love Rara Negra. But then you also have Caucasian, Georgian varieties, Saperavi, these wines can be made into wines on their own, they can also be blended, and we found some very exciting wines. I love the wines with Saperavi, so Saperavi with Cabernet or Molo, and Saperavi is a very memorable wine grape. It's inky, it has color, it has high acidity, it's got quite a bad bit of tannins, it's plummy and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, which sometimes can be really hot for new drinkers, so doubling it back, pulling back with some Molo and Cabernet is always a good idea. It's always nice to have this familiarity of a certain grape that you already know and then with some local flavors as well, yeah. The last category is you're going to find this dessert wine, some ice wines, and some of these wines are incredibly impressive, right? I would say actually the first wine from Modova that really caught my attention and blew me away, just didn't just really caught my attention, but really blew me away was Chateau Vattale, the ice wine made out of rustling. That was like, for me in my head I was thinking this must be like a 96.97.1. I thought it was really brilliant, not just for Modova, but international standard wines. Yes, I agree, I agree. I think we found some delicious Boatrotized wine, late harvest ice wines, really some fantastic values in the country. We found an ice wine made out of Cabernet Sauvignon. Rosé, which was really impressive actually. Currently the biggest market for Moldovan wine is actually neighboring Romania. Poland's a huge market. China, they're trying to push UK and they're really trying to push out. You know, it's a small country. There's only, I think, three million people living there. It's not a high-income country, so they have to find ways to export these wines to get these wines out. And I really think that they have a future on the export market, don't you think? I think Saudi Arabia really have a very one notch, pretty much one notch above many up-and-coming wine regions at this point. And sometimes I suspect that it's because they have been focusing on the export market, which gives them a certain edge to make wines that are, you know, tied to their local identity by yet at the same time, kind of attuned to what the international standard they are looking for or what people want. I find actually, you know, what helps is there's a lot of bigger companies that used to sell bulk wine out looking to bottle and they're producing really pure, clean, variety of expressive wines out of local grapes. Fatesca alba, Fatesca regala, Fatesca negra. And if you see somebody, if you can get those wines exported on the shelf, you can pay, you know, under 10 US dollars for them, 10 euros. It's worth trying. I think people will really enjoy them, right? I mean, if I were to import it, I would actually try to import Moldovan wines, quickly. The second thing for me, which I'm actually very excited, I really like the Moldovan Bordeaux blend. I know this sounds a little bit boring, but Moldova is this unique country where, you know, it's all rolling hills, 200 meters above sea level is really the highest elevation. Continental quasi Mediterranean climate, so you get wines that have lots of fruit but not overly baked and still have great acidity. So guys, if you travel the country, be willing to go out and try different wines. There's wine bars all, wine bars, wine bars all over Kishinaw. Really, the wine culture there is starting to grow. Domestic wine culture is starting to grow, starting to thrive. If you see some of these wines on the export market, don't be afraid to try, especially maybe not at the bargain bin prices, but then it started to move in the mid-level and higher. The wines, I think, can be really impressive. You know, it's a country that I had, and I really didn't know what to expect. I know some of the wines I tasted beforehand got me a little bit excited. But once we got there, it's a place that I really want to go back and visit. Don't you think? I want to go back for the wine, the placenta, the sauma, the people, the food. Okay, sorry, you got drifted over thinking about the food. So don't be afraid to check out, guys. Remember to keep drinking adventurously, try new things, experiment, and have fun with it. So if you like it... I'm not very coordinated today. If you liked this video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Exactly. I'll see you at the next episode.