Published: 11 February, 2026
How do people really choose their wine? Is it on the basis of style (rich and full-bodied vs lighter and more acidity driven), fashion (Italian Pinot Grigio and Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc have done well here) or is it by country or region or variety? The question has particular resonance when considering Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) – a vast, geographically ill-defined area comprising more than 25 very different countries. Aside from Central Europe proper, it incorporates the three Caucasus countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia; plus Ukraine, Moldova, Greece and its islands, Cyprus, Turkey; and the Balkan nations: including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, and tiny former Yugoslav republics like Montenegro and North Macedonia (home to red Vranac and white Temjanika, two very distinctive varieties). Even Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina are now raising their viticultural profiles with both making a splash at last year’s CEE tasting in central London, where the hundreds of wines offered by dozens of producers and importers somehow just scratched the surface.
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Published: 31 January, 2025
Justin Keay speaks to Armenian star, Zorik Gharibian, who grew up in Italy and turned his back on a successful career in fashion in order to make wine in his ancestral homeland. As the founder and winemaker of Zorah Wines, Gharibian has played a pivotal role in helping shape the country’s modern wine industry, most recently having just revived a range of once-extinct native varieties.
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Published: 25 October, 2024
This mountainous former Soviet republic in the south Caucasus has long traditions of Christianity and hospitality, and an ancient wine culture that dates back Millenia. It also has outstanding territorial issues and has recently endured conflict and has a large neighbour with whom it has a history of bad relations. The country is modernising but also grappling with corruption, bureaucracy and cronyism. Its shrinking population is mitigated to some degree by returning former emigres, who are active in a revitalising a wine industry where traditions and indigenous grape varieties are being rediscovered, with winemakers aiming for wines that appeal to a modern palate rather than a typical Russian one.
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Published: 21 August, 2024
Following the success of the inaugural CEE tasting, Justin Keay dives into the multi-faceted diversity of the region, spanning Central Europe, the Balkans and the Caucasus.
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Justin Keay contemplates the potential impact of the coming showcase for Central and Eastern European wines.
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Published: 15 December, 2023
Armenia has a thriving wine industry, as Jacopo Mazzeo discovers, but faces an uphill battle to establish itself on the world stage.
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Published: 27 September, 2019
Importer Hallgarten & Novum Wines has added two new wineries to its portfolio from Armenia and Georgia, the first time it has listed wines from those countries.
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