Black Sea Wines Brings You Items from the Web - 22 March 2011

Black Sea Wines brings you some of the latest news and opinions from the Web.

• If you missed this January article from The Economist about wines making a comeback in the former Yugoslavia especially Croatia, Montenegro and Macedonia, it's a short and enjoyable read.

• Richard Jennings of RJonWine.com has a nice article on new releases from Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

• One of my favorite super cheap wines is the Bulgarian Gamza Suhindol. Gamza comes from the Veliko Tarnovo area and is a spicy medium-bodied red that sells for about $4 per bottle. Click here to find out about the wine and the Lovico winery. According to Lovico's website, their wine is available throughout the EU and in the US.

• IstanbulEats thinks that the 2007 Umurbey Sauvignon Blanc from Turkey is New Zealand quality.

• Cramele Recas, a Romanian winery, on its news page lists new places in the UK and US where you can buy their wine and recent awards. 

• If you can read Romanian, a nice wine blog is Cazan Cu Vin.

• Wine and cheese are always a nice pairing. If you are interested in cheese, check out the blog, Cheese Enthusiast.

Black Sea Wines Brings You Items from the Web for 21 March 2011

Black Sea Wines brings you some of the latest news and opinions from the Web.

• Food & Wine magazine lists the best wines of 2010 from Eastern Europe according to a well-known Chicago sommelier.

• Frommer's, the travel site, lists the best local places for beer and wine in Eastern Europe.

• At a recent Moldovan Chamber of Commerce event, I was told of hopes to build an underground transport system to tour the wine cellars of Cricova.

• If you live in the New York City area, there is a class on the wines of Croatia and Hungary on March 26th.

• Austria's former commercial attache to Romania saw opportunity and launched the wine brand LacertA and is now opening a wine-tasting venue.

• Black Sea Wines recently reviewed the Avia Pinot Noir 2009. Why Wine Blog reviewed the 2008 edition.

• The 2011 Chardonnay du Monde competition for the world's best Chardonnay's was held in France last week. One of the top ten Gold Medal winners, Chardonnay Vyber z Hroznu 2006 by Vinarstvi Josef Valihrach, was from the Czech Republic. Bulgaria was cited as a Central European standout.

• Blogger Carolyn Snowabiad praises Turkish wine and provides a link to a CNN piece on the revival of Turkish wines.

Regional Wine Associations and Organizations

• All About Greek Wine
• Georgian Wine Association
• Greek Winemakers 
• Hungarian Wine Society
• Moldovan Small Wine Producers Association 
• Moldovan Wine Guild
• Romanian Winegrowers 
• Romanian Wine Exporters and Producers Association (Wine Romania) 
• Tokaj Wine and Women Association (Hungary) 
• Wines of Balkans
• Wines of Croatia
• Wines of Czech Republic 
• Wines of Serbia
• Wines of Turkey 

We will be adding to the list. Please send the name and URL of your wine association or organization!

Wine Compass: Eastern European Wines Shine at the Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival

Our colleagues at Wine Compass thought wines from Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia were among the standouts at the recent Washington D.C. International Wine & Food Festival. Like me, they are fans of Plavac from Croatia.

Don't Miss the Zagreb Wine Gourmet Festival on February 25th!

The 4th Zagreb Wine Gourmet Festival begins on February 25th. More than 500 wines will be available at the festival; mostly from Croatia, but also from Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Spain and South Africa. If you have not had Croatian wine, it is excellent.