Food and Drink

Eastern European Wines

Are Eastern European wines good? How can Europe’s poorest nation (Moldova) produce stunning wines? How do you pronounce the grape variety Smerderevaka? (No idea!).

It may be the new boy on the bloc (sorry!) but Eastern Europe is perhaps the birth-place of wine. Wine was made in Georgia 8,000 years ago - it’s probably past its best now - but countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovenia and Macedonia all have admirable winemaking histories. Look up ‘Moldova wine tunnels’ next time you’re surfing the net - seriously!

Communism didn’t do these wine-loving nations any favours. Standards fell quickly, and traditional grape ones were dug up and replaced with international varieties. The collapse of the Soviet Union reversed the situation - Eastern Europe is back!

Labour and production costs are low. To start with ‘value’ meant okay house wine, but unhindered by politics, standards have risen sharply, resulting in some terrific wines.

The labels can be intimidating - if it seems like a foreign language,it probably is! Fortunately most countries include eyebrow-raising English translations from a certain wellknown app! Some grape varieties don’t exactly roll off the tongue - Feteasca Regala, Rkatsiteli, Plavac, Malvazija Istarska - you get the idea! And for anyone thinking ‘I’ve heard of Malvasia’, Malvazija Istarka is no relation at all - ha!

Wine should be a bit mysterious so why not the label? I find a Cyrillic label exciting (I’ve had a sheltered life). Anyway, I’ve tried a variety in restaurants as well as at work, and I’m a fan - I love the engaging mixture of familiar and exotic. Where should you start? Well, Georgia may be the cradle of wine so let’s start with its most famous grape, Saperavi. As well as being easy to pronounce it produces deep red wines well suited to ageing and has the distinction of being one of the world’s few Teinturier grapes. What? You don’t know what that is? How lucky I’m here. Teinturier means the flesh, as well as the skin, is red. Surrounding countries also grow Saperavi and the best I’ve tried personally was from Moldova.

White lovers may be tempted by orange wine - a style of natural wine where white grapes are left to ferment in contact with their skins like red wine, often in a traditional earthenware ‘Qvevri’ - a giant amphora without handles often sunk into the earth. ‘Proper’ Orange Wine is a bit of a shock. Savoury and powerful, it should accompany food. Many customers buy a bottle. Few buy a second. Luckily ‘westernised’ orange wines are available - Romania’s biggest exporter, Cramele Recas, makes a delicious, light version - like a Pinot Grigio with candied fruit notes. Call in soon to say hello and we can practice saying ‘Gaumarjos’ (‘Cheers’ in Georgian).

Dave Anning

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Local food writer Caleb Botton delves into his heritage for his Christmas pudding recipe

Stir Up Sunday, falls on last Sunday before Advent - this year the 20 November - and is traditionally when one starts making Christmas pudding. Every family member would have a hand in mixing the ingredients (which used to be only 13 in number, to represent Jesus and his disciples) while wishes were made and a coin added. While most families have their own favoured variations, here is mine, which was passed down the generations from my great grandmother, a Romany Gypsy.

Instructions

In a bowl combine the currants, raisins, sultanas, brandy or whisky and lemon and orange juice and zest. Let it sit for four hours. Add all the spices, suet, flour, sugar, salt, mixed peel, bread crumbs, apples and eggs with the soaked fruit, mixing thoroughly until combined. Grease a very large pudding basin with butter and spoon in the mixture until it is three-quarters full. Cover with greaseproof paper and a muslin cloth or aluminium foil, and secure around the rim with kitchen string. Place the basin in a pan of water that comes about half way up, let the water boil for six hours making sure you keep it topped up. Remove the greaseproof paper, cloth/ aluminium foil and cover with fresh greaseproof paper and a clean cloth/foil. Store in a cool place until Christmas Day! Caleb Botton is the author of The Gypsy Cookbook, which will be out Autumn 2023. For more recipes, follow his Facebook page The Gypsy Cookbook

Ingredients

The zest and juice of half a lemon and an orange 2 large cooking apples peeled and grated 200g each of currants, raisins and sultanas 100g mixed peel 100g flaked almonds 1 bottle brandy or whisky to soak the fruit 200g suet 150g dark brown sugar 125g flour 150g dried brown bread crumbs ½ teaspoon salt 1 tsp mixed spice 1 tsp fresh nutmeg 2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp ground cardamom 3 eggs

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