The Undiscovered Heritage of Moldovan Wine.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining a group of fellow wine professionals for a wine masterclass presented by Caroline Gilby Master of Wine and the Purcari Wineries Group at Trivet Restaurant in London.

We tasted a selection of wines from Purcari's wineries in Moldova, Romania and Bulgaria. I have tasted wines from all three countries before, and they always surprise me with their constantly improving quality. This time was no different.

We tasted our way through over 30 wines and I have to say, if I didn't know where the wines came from, I would have been pleasantly surprised by the elegance and balance of them all. Knowing what I was about to put my nose and teeth into though... I was even more surprised! I know I shouldn't say this because as a London-based wine consultant I have had my fair share of trying wines from lesser-known regions, countries or grape varieties and even comparing them to the 'staples' from the most sought after regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Tuscany or Rioja, yet every time I get a chance to discover new ones I'm amazed.

Most of them could easily be mistaken for their 'traditional' old world counterparts in a blind tasting, and the ones that are different would actually stand out because of their subtle uniqueness, their 'sense of place' which we don't yet know that well.

Moldova itself has a long tradition of winemaking and producing top quality wines for centuries now. It is time for the rest of Europe and the world to delve into those beautiful whites, reds and bubbles coming from this small but certainly emerging wine country.

Thank you for the invite Zsuzsa Toronyi and Adam Odor , and it was great to finally meet Libby Brodie too.