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.

From the Web: Black Sea Wine Items for 18 February 2011

Recent items include:

• Romanian millionaire Ioan Niculae of the InterAgro companies invested $9 million to launch the Crama Voievodului wine label. Nobilitas will be the first brand on the shelves.
• Bulgarian wine exports grew 10% in 2010. 
• A review of the Turkish white, Kavaklidere Narince 2008.
• If you want to know more about the wines of Turkey, visit Turkish Wine Forum.
• Suzy Atkins reaffirms Hungary's Tokaji wines as an accompaniment to dessert.
• Isabelle Legeron, wine expert for the Travel Channel, has a video blog of her travels from Budapest to the Black Sea.
• Even the Wall Street Journal is hip to the Prague wine scene.

From the Web: Black Sea Wine Items for 15 February 2011

Recent items include:

• On Michael Green's blog, Tod Godbout extols the virtues of Kekfrankos or Blue Frankisch wines from Northwestern Hungary and who produces them in the US.
• Atlas Tours offers wine-themed cruises between Budapest and Prague.
• If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are interested in Eastern European wines, you must check out Blue Danube Wine Company. They even taught a classes on the wines of Eastern Europe last week.
• The US Ambassador to Bulgaria, owner of a 500 bottle wine cellar, praised the quality of Bulgarian wine.
• Red wine helps fight breast cancer? We knew resveratrol was good for the heart. Apparently, when it's combined with rapamycin, a breast cancer drug, there's an anti-tumor effect.