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Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/537558
www.cheersonline.com 34 • July/August 2015 Good value and food-friendly wines from Eastern Europe are a welcome arrival on American menus By Thomas Henry Strenk PLAVAC MALI RDECA ZLAHTNINA RKATSITELI PLAVAC ZLAHTNINA RKATSITELI K K z K O pen a bottle of plavac mali, pour a glass of rdecˇ a zlahtnina or sip a crisp rkatsiteli. Never heard of those varietals? You soon will. Those are just a few of the important if hard-to-pronounce indigenous grapes from the wine regions of Eastern Europe; in this case from Croatia, Slovenia and Georgia, respectively. There are a few challenges with marketing wines that consumers aren't familiar with, of course. But the sommeliers and bar directors we spoke to are sold on these regions and are now selling them to their guests. They are pouring wines from these obscure regions, thanks to their overall good price-value, food friendliness and compelling stories for marketing them to guests. GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY LESSONS Many Americans would be hard-pressed to point out these East European wine regions on a global map; indeed, opinions vary as to which countries constitute Eastern (or Central) Europe. "If you look on a map, it's east of Germany and Austria and north of Greece; most of the countries that constitute Eastern Europe are the former Eastern bloc," explains Arthur Hon, wine director for the Michelin-starred Sepia restaurant in Chicago. The sommelier cites Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia; other wine-producing countries usually considered part of Eastern Europe are the Republic of Georgia and Moldova. EASTERN PROMISES