Moldova (2) Chateau Purcari and Fine Moldovan Wine

A Tour, Tasting and Lunch at Moldova's Premier Wine Chateau

Moldova

Chişinău to Purcari

After breakfast N arrived with her driver and we set off for Purcari in the southeast of the country.

As the geography of Moldova is not generally well-known (and that may be an understatement), here is a map.

We travelled from Chisinau to the village of Purcari in southeast Moldova

The village of Purcari is 110km from Chişinău, a journey of some 2 hours, including a coffee stop. Once out of the capital we rolled sedately along a well-maintained two-lane road through rich agricultural country with fields of maize and sunflower, and the occasional open meadow.

Geese in a meadow on the way to Purcari (and sorry about the reflection!)

I recall no towns or villages on the route, though the map says we passed through the centre of Căuşeni (pop 16,000). The houses were set back from the road among woods and we missed any business district/shopping area it may have. We paused there at a petrol station with a coffee shop; Moldova may be the poorest country in Europe but these were clean and well organised facilities – and they were not there for tourists, because there were none (except us!).

The smaller town of Ştefan Vodă lay just off the road and even after leaving the highway we missed Purcari village, driving straight to the winery. 'Chateau' Purcari nestles among trees, surrounded by a sea of vines.

Chateau Purcari

Cheateau Purcari

We were introduced to the Chateau’s representative who showed us round.

Purcari Winery

The ‘chateau’ was built in 2003 but wines have been made on this site since 1827 and were considered among the finest in the Russian Empire. Purcari wines were served to Queen Victoria, George V and the ill-fated Tsar Nicholas II and are, they claim still favoured by the British royal family. For all I know they may drink nothing else - Her Maj rarely never invites me round for an informal supper at the palace, so I am largely ignorant of her drinking habits, but a bottle from the Queen’s collection is prominently displayed at the winery. Berry Brothers and Rudd are Purcari’s UK agent and they have been official wine suppliers to the British Royal Family since the reign of King George III, so who knows….

Purcari wine from the royal collection

The winery thrived throughout the Soviet years; little Moldova and not much bigger Georgia, with less that a half of 1% of the USSR’s land between them produced most of its wine. Production at Purcari ceased for ten years after the dissolution of the USSR, but the winery was brought back to life in 2003 and set about restoring its reputation for quality.

The grapes come from the surrounding 260ha of vineyards.

Lynne and the Purcari Vineyards

Modelled on a Bordeaux chateau both in style and wine-making technique (Bordeaux is on a similar latitude but Purcari’s climate is more continental and less maritime), fermentation takes place in stainless steel vats (just like everywhere else so I did not bother with a photo), then matures in new French oak barrels.

Purcari wine resting in new French oak barrels

A sparkling wine has recently been added to the portfolio. Purcari uses the same Pinot Noir/Chardonnay blend as Champagne and produces its wine by the methode champenoise, meaning the secondary fermentation that produces the fizz happens in the bottle. Remuage is the slow inverting and twisting of the bottles at the end of that secondary fermentation to collect the sediment in the neck so it can be easily removed. Until relatively recently this was done by hand, but most remuage is now done mechanically in gyropalletes which reduces the time required from six weeks to one without loss of quality (according to the Champagne official website). Purcari has invested in a phalanx of these machines.

Gyropalettes, Purcari winery

Tasting at the Purcari Winery

During our tour the sun had conveniently found its way above the yardarm, so our guide took us for a small tasting and proved to be as knowledgeable about the products as she had about the process – and she spoke excellent English, too.

Lynne and our friendly and knowledgeable local guide, Purcari Winery

The accent at Purcari is on quality rather than mass production and this was evident throughout the tasting. It is also reflected in the prices, those quoted are mail order (in Moldova only) from the winery’s website and UK prices for wines available from Romanian-wine.com. For comparison, you can buy a very decent (though not Purcari!) bottle in any mid-range Chişinău eatery for £6-£7 and for far less in supermarkets.

Pinot Grigio did not sound a promising start but although it was as colourless as any other Pinot Grigio it shone in a way most do not. It also had a strong fruity/spicy nose where most smell of nothing. Italian Pinot Grigio is harvested early to increase acidity and often over-cropped to keep it cheap - that is why it tastes of nothing. This was fresh and clean on the palate with autumnal notes of apple and pear – if only all Pinot Grigio was like this.[In Moldova 120 Lei (£5.45), in UK £11.95]

Purcari wines
Left to right, Pinot Grigio, Rosé, Rosu and Ice Wine

Rosé de Purcari is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and the local Rară Neagră. A pale salmon pink with a wild strawberry nose, it has good acidity (more than the Pinot Grigio) but is disappointing on the palate as it offers little beyond crispness until the Cabernet kicks in at the end. [In Moldove 120 Lei (£5.45), in UK £11.95

Roşu de Purcari is made using the classic Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Malbec blend. The 2014 vintage still looks young and purple, the nose is an immense blast of fruit very much in the Bordeaux style. This is a rich, premium wine with abundant plummy fruit, solid tannins and an excellent balance. If I had been told this came from the Haut-Médoc I would have believed it. Maybe they should be pushing their own style not aping somebody else’s, but they do it so well I forgive them. [Only available in Moldova 295 Lei (£13.40 and it would be £25 if it really was Haut-Médoc.)]

I'm taking this seriously, Tasting at Purcari Winery

Ice Wine. A pale gold, viscous (almost oily) blend of Muscat Ottonel and Traminer, with an aroma of lychees, honey and roses. The spicy Traminer (which I like) tempers the flowery Muscat (not so keen) and the intensely sweet, luscious whole is greater than the sum of its parts. [Only available in Moldova 380 Lei (£17.30) for ½ bottle].

Lunch at the Chateau Purcari

A good tasting is a perfect prelude to a good lunch and the winery had arranged a three-course meal showcasing traditional Moldovan cuisine.

We started with Plăcintă, a usually circular flaky pastry case with various fillings. A favourite in Romania and Ukraine as well as Moldova, it can be sweet or savoury, but for a starter we had cabbage and dill in one, and soft cheese in the other. The pastry was excellent, if a little filling, I liked the cheesy one but shredded cabbage would not be my first (or second) choice of filling.

Placinta, Purcari Winery

Ciorbă. Romanians and Moldovans draw a distinction between supă (soup)and ciorbă (sour soup). We were served a clear chicken noodle soup with carrots, coriander and onions; the chicken well-flavoured and the noodles made in the winery’s kitchen. What made it ciorbă was an interesting and distinctive sourness derived, traditionally, from borş (wheat or barley bran fermented in water), though lemon and sauerkraut juice are also used.

Ciorba, Purcari Winery

Our main course was Mămăligă and pork. We had already noticed that Moldovan low intensity farming produces meat and vegetables packed with flavour and our pork, stewed to tenderness, was top quality. Once a millet-based polenta, Mămăligă is now always made from maize. Maize was brought to Europe from Mexico in 1530, reached Romania around 1700 and quickly replaced millet in the staple diet of the peasantry. Mămăligă remains popular and is perhaps the single defining dish of Romanian/Moldovan cuisine. It has a pleasant texture (Lynne was unconvinced) but is bland until mixed with the grated, salty brânză (a ewe’s milk cheese) it is always served with. Once mixed it is easy to enjoy.

Pork and mamaliga with grated branza, Purcari Winery

We drank a half bottle of Rară Neagră, Moldova's native grape on its own. Less purple than the earlier Cabernet based Rosu, the nose is thinner with less fruit. It starts with plenty of flavour, a touch of sweet dried fruits and vanilla, but lacks tannin and falls away so quickly I could not detect the promised ‘fine oak aftertaste’. Purcari sell it locally for 180 lei (£8.20), Romanian-wine.com sell it in the UK for £13.75 (whole bottle prices).

There was no desert – we were stuffed anyway – but we had been royally entertained and thoroughly enjoyed the best of Moldovan wine (we had started right at the top) and typical Moldovan food, and now it was time to leave.

As we left a young waitress scurried after us bearing another half bottle of Rară Neagră. Unfortunately, her English matched our Romanian and it was unclear whether she wanted us to pay for the bottle we had drunk (we had assumed it was ‘complimentary’) or give us this one as a gift. She ran off to find someone with better linguistic skills. It was a ‘gift’ (though we undoubtedly paid for everything we ate and drank at some point) and gratefully received. We cracked it the next day before going out to dinner.

Rara Neagra de Purcari in our hotel room, Chisinau

Purcari Village

Leaving the winery we headed into Purcari village, pausing to admire a family of storks in their nest.

Family of Storks, Purcari

We have a west European preconception of a village, a string of cottages, a cluster of shops, a church and pub/café/restaurant, but the 2,500 people of Purcari live in well-separated houses, most with a patch of land, set well back from the straight village roads, and if there are any businesses we did not see them. They do, though, have a war memorial.

Purcari War Memorial

Second World War memorials are abundant throughout Russia and the former Soviet Union. They lost 8 million soldiers and 15 million civilians in the conflict, so it is hardly surprising.

Puracari War Memorial

Purcari to Chişinău

With no time to stop on the outward journey, our return to Chişinău was punctuated by photo stops. The first was at the bus stop on the main road past Ştefan Vodă. The Soviet Union chose strange things to decorate, some of Moscow’s metro stations resemble temples, there is a huge semi-circular mural on a specially erected wall on the Jvari Pass through the Caucasus in Georgia which is far less beautiful than the mountains it obscures, and here there are bus stops. Like the Georgian mural, this painting has seen better days.

Stefan Voda bus stop

The main themes on the bus stop are storks and sunflowers. I have already shown you the real storks, so here are the real sunflowers.

Sunflowers near Stefan Voda

Anyone who wanders through the British countryside must occasionally encounter a farm where one paddock, usually tucked behind a dilapidated barn, has become a graveyard for unwanted farm machinery, a broken-down quad bike, an old Ferguson tractor and the skeleton of a horse drawn harvester last used by great-grandpa in the 1930s. In Moldova they turn these things into memorials. I have no idea what this antique tractor is doing on a plinth, but there it is.

Antique tractor on a plinth, somewhere near Causeni

Near Căuşeni we looked at an abandoned collective farm…

Abandoned collective farm, near Causeni

…and at Grigorievca a few kilometres north of Căuşeni we stopped at the church and cemetery. A large padlocked iron gate prevented us getting any closer, but the painting of St George killing a dragon over the doorway suggest who it might be dedicated to. From extensive googling I can tell you that Grigorievca has 1,200 residents, Ukrainians are the largest ethnic group and that the yellow paint job is fairly recent. That apart…..

Grigorievca Church

Evening in Chişinău

We reached Chişinău in the early evening. Later, deciding that we did not need a meal but a snack might be nice we repaired to one of the pubs across the pedestrianised road from our hotel where we shared what the menu described as ‘fried anchovies’ but I would call ‘whitebait’.

Fried anchovies in Chisinau

It had been an excellent day and I shall finish by noting that while Purcari is justly famous for its wine, Chişinău is proud of its brewery.

Chisinau beer

Moldova (and Transnistria)
Part 1:Chişinău, a Modest Capital
Part 2: Purcari, Fine Moldovan Wine
Part 3: Orheiul Vechi and Cricova Winery
Part 4: Transnistria, a Day Out in a Non-existent Country

Moldova (1): Chişinău, a Modest Capital City

A Walking Tour of One of Europe's Least Known Capital Ciities

23/06/2018

Introduction to Chişinău

Moldova

Chisinau

After a delayed flight we did not reach our city centre hotel until after 9. We entered Chişinău (pronounced Kish-er-now) through the city gates, apartment blocks completed in the dying years of the Soviet Union.

The City Gate, Chişinău

Despite the hour there was plenty of light to gain a first impression: Soviet built apartment blocks have looked grimmer elsewhere, the streets were wide and clean, the traffic orderly and although we were in Europe's poorest country it looked, at first glance, relatively prosperous.

Our hotel was on Strada Eugen Doga, a pedestrian street lined with bars and restaurants, though all seemed eerily quiet for a Saturday night. By 10 (our body clocks said it was 8), we were in the beer cellar adjacent to the hotel ready for food, beer and the second half of Germany v Sweden. There were plenty of seats so we chose a good view of a convenient screen and ordered a couple of beers (Chişinău Brewery’s dark - because everyone else was drinking it) a ‘beer platter' (a pile of salami, basturma, prosciutto and other processed meats) and beef carpaccio, wafer thin slices in lemon and vinegar with flaked parmesan and a pile of dressed rocket - we were grateful for the greenery. The quality was high, as were the prices (though a tad below British pub prices) and judging by the reaction to the goals many of our fellow drinkers/watchers must have been German – perhaps only rich foreigners can afford to drink here. Well, we were in the cellar of a four-star hotel.

When we said we were going to Moldova we received several blank looks, so here is a map. Moldova, the former Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia, became independent in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. Landlocked (just, it almost reaches the Black Sea) and sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine it was in 2014, according to Travellers Digest the least visited country in Europe with 11,000 foreign visitors.

Moldova stuck between Romania and Ukraine, almost like an afterthought

And if not everybody could instantly point to Moldova on a map, the vast majority, including me until quite recently, would struggle to locate the capital, Chişinău.

Moldova - Transdniestria (or Transnistria) is a grey area we will visit in a few days time

24/06/2018

The breakfast buffet offered the usual suspects plus Moldovan specialties. Clatite are pancakes with a sweet or savoury filling, in this case minced beef, while pănănaşi are fried discs of sweetened dough served with brânză (young, salty, crumbly ewes’ milk cheese). I enjoyed both.

Strada Eugen Doga

N arrived at 10 to conduct a walking tour of Chişinău. We started from the hotel front dooe in Strada Eugen Doga.

Chişinău and the Holocaust

First stop, at the end of the pedestrian street was the memorial to the Chişinău ghetto. Chişinău had a large Jewish population in the 19th century, when Moldova was part of Tsarist Russia, and there was a major pogrom in 1905. After World War One most of Moldova joined Romania but in 1940 it was re-annexed by the USSR under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. In 1941, when the Nazis invaded the USSR, many Moldovan Jews retreated with the Red Army. Those who remained were collected in a ghetto which stood behind the memorial. Life was hard, many died and the rest were moved to a ‘place of safety’ in Tiraspol, 80km away across the River Dniester. Some sources claim most survived, others that they were transported to Auschwitz.

Chişinău Jewish Ghetto Memorial

Chişinău’s current Jewish population is either 2,500 or 10,000, depending on source, and is falling as the Israeli government offers inducements to bright young people. One functioning synagogue remains, while a former synagogue on the pedestrian street near the memorial acts as a Jewish cultural centre.

Former synagogue, now Jewish cultural centre, Chişinău

Comsomol Monument

Between the memorial and the cultural centre stands the monument to members of the Comsomol who died fighting fascism. Born in 1979, N had joined the Young Octobrists aged 7 and moved on to the Pioneers, a Soviet scout-like movement, at 9. Whether she would have later joined the Comsomol, the young Communist League for ages 15 to 28, is a moot point as in 1991 all these organisations disappeared along with the Soviet Union. Most Soviet era statues and monuments have disappeared too, but this is a memorial to young Moldovans who died fighting fascism, so it has stayed. In this, as in many other issues, Moldova was split, but there is no memorial to those who died fighting alongside the fascists in the Romanian Army.

Comsomol Monument, Chişinău

'Valentine'

On a lighter note, ‘Valentine’ by Pavel Obreja appeared overnight in October 2017. The young man holds a bunch of flowers in a manner we first observed in Poland in 2002. Eastern European men seem to buy flowers more often than their western counterparts and then carry them pointing straight down, they are activated on presentation by being turning the right way up. The girl is obviously late and has removed her shoes to creep up on him as a surprise, at least that was my interpretation. N disagreed, ruefully observing that nobody can walk in high-heels on these cobbles. And before we left Moldova we did see high-heeled shoes being carried down Strada Eugen Doga by their barefoot owner.

'Valentine' by Pavel Obreja, Strada Eugen Doga, Chişinău

Chişinău City Park

Chişinău Russian Orthodox Cathedral

At the top of the Strada we crossed the road to the city park, dominated by the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The city has a Romanian Orthodox Cathedral too, but although most Moldovans speak Romanian, eat Romanian and are eligible for Romanian citizenship, the overwhelming majority are Russian Orthodox.

Cathedral of the Nativity,Chişinău

The Neo-Classical Cathedral of the Nativity was built during the 1830s. Severely damaged, like much of Chişinău, during the Second World War it has been extensively rebuilt. As an exhibition centre during Soviet times its walls were whitewashed; all the interior painting and gilding dates from 1993 or later.

Inside the Cathedral of the Nativity, Chişinău

Mass in an orthodox church is a performance more than a service, the congregation milling around rather than seated in pews. The singing, from the choir in a balcony above our heads was sublime making all my little neck hairs stand on end. Eastern Orthodox church music does that to me.

Ceiling, Cathedral of the Nativity, Chişinău

Opposite the cathedral is a spring from which holy water is drawn on appropriate occasions. and the bell tower, built in 1997 to replace the one destroyed by the communists in 1962.

Spring with globe and cross and the bell tower of Chişinău Cathedral

Chişinău Summer Berry Fair

The Summer Berry Fair was next to the cathedral. Moldova is a largely agricultural country and produces a lot of soft fruit.

Summer Berry Fair, Chişinău City Park

The warm summers means that fruit ripens earlier than at home and the variety and quality was impressive – blackberries in June!

Summer Berry Fair and the cathedral, Chişinău City Park

The practice of affixing padlocks to gates and fences as symbols of love is more common in China than Europe, but we have never before seen ironwork specifically set up for that purpose.

Hearts looked together for ever, Chişinău City Park

That may feel distinctly un-soviet but along the street the old Soviet practice of publicly displaying newspapers remains alive.

Newspapers, Chişinău City Park

Chişinău's 'Arc de Triomphe'

Beyond the bell tower is the Arc de Triomphe (Arcul de Triumf in Romanian). In June 1812, days before Napoleon started his ill-fated march on Moscow, Tsar Alexander I ratified the Treaty of Bucharest annexing Bessarabia (pretty much modern Moldova) from the Principality of Moldavia (similar and confusing name!), a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. You might think that Christian Bessarabia would be happy to swap masters from Islamic Ottomans to Christian Russians but the Ottomans had allowed Moldavia considerably independence and there were misgivings. Russian-Ottoman wars continued through to World War One and the arch commemorates Russia’s victory in the 1828-29 instalment. From 1828 Russia exerted more and more control over Bessarabia, Russifying the region and suppressing the Romanian language. The Arch was built in 1841 as a reminder of who was boss.

Arcul de Triumf, Chişinău

It is a small, modest arch in a small, modest capital with a clock that would look at home in a railway station. Inside, a 6.4t bell cast from melted down Ottoman cannons chimes the hour with an unmusical ‘dunk’.

The Arch de Triomphe with the bell tower and Cathedral behind, Chişinău

The Boulevard of Stefen the Great and the Saint (formerly Lenin Boulevard)

The front of the Arch is on Bulevardul Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfint, Chişinău’s main drag named for the country’s great hero.

We turned right, passed the National Opera and the World Cup ‘fanzone’ and paused to admire the Ministry of Agriculture building. Not exactly beautiful, it would be unremarkable in most capital cities, but it is the tallest building in Chişinău and hence in Moldova.

Ministry of Agriculture, Chişinău

Chişinău was taken by advancing fascists in 1941 and re-taken by the Red Army in 1944 so buildings predating 1940 are rare and the Church of the Transfiguration, consecrated in 1902, is a survivor. It was deconsecrated after the 1917 revolution and when Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering earth orbit in 1961 created a demand for planetariums church domes were ideal, so the Church of the Transfiguration became a planetarium from 1962 to 1990. After independence it was returned to the Orthodox Church.

The Church of the Transfiguration, Chişinău

Crossing the wide boulevard was easy, there was little traffic and Moldovan drivers generally respect crossings. Turning back the way we had come we passed another pre-war survivor, the Urban Villa of Vladimir Herța. Herța was mayor of Chişinău when the Russian Revolution gave Bessarabia the chance to seize independence. In 1920 parliament voted to join with Romania. The union, recognised in western Europe but regarded as an occupation by the USSR, lasted until 1940.

The Urban Villa of Vladimir Herta, Chişinău

Nextdoor we stood in front of the Moldovan Parliament Building, once home to the Central Committee of the Moldovan branch of the Communist Party of The Soviet Union. Now the Democratic Party of Moldova (social democrats), leads a coalition with a narrow majority among the 101 MPs. Uniquely among former Soviet republics the Communist Party, which now has 6 MPs actually formed the government from 2001-2009.

Moldovan parliament building, Chişinău

Stefan the Great Park and Gardens

Next to the parliament is Stefan the Great Park and Gardens. It has a nice fountain…

Fountain, Stefan the Great Park, Chişinău

…and an avenue of busts of the great and the good. The busts were too small and too far apart for a decent photograph, but there was nobody we had ever heard of – I am sure the same would not be true in France or Germany and perhaps it is an indication of the gulf of understanding between Eastern and Western Europe.

Alexander Pushkin, generally regarded as Russia’s greatest poet, gets a spot to himself. Pushkin lived in Chişinău 1820-3; we previously met him in Tblisi were he had earlier settled briefly.

Alexander Pushkin, Stefan the Great Park, Chişinău

But the star is Ştefan cel Mare şi Sfint (Stefan the Great and the Saint), Moldova’s national hero. Prince of Moldavia (a much bigger area than modern Moldova) from 1457 to 1504, his 47-year reign brought stability to a principality surrounded by larger powers, playing off the Ottoman Empire, Poland and Hungary against each other and allegedly resorting to arms only when other means failed, which was quite often as he claimed to have fought 36 battles and won 34. Although a relatively sophisticated late medieval warlord, Stefan was known to use impalement as a punishment – he was an occasional ally of Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia – and imposed slavery on Roma and Tartar prisoners. These were not the acts of a saint, so his 1993 canonization by the Romanian Orthodox Church looks more nationalistic than religious.

Stefan the Great and the Saint looks out over his from his park, Chişinău

A few paces on and we were back outside the huge cabinet offices opposite the Arcul de Triumf. Here, where Lenin once stood, is a strange non-monument. The plaque on the rough marble slab announces that ‘in this place will be placed the monument in memory of the victims of the Soviet occupation and of the totalitarian communist regime.’ It has been like this since 2010. The Soviet annexation in 1940 was followed by mass arrests. 90,000 were deported to Siberia and some 100,000 died in a semi-deliberate post-war famine, but Moldova remains torn; some look west while others still look east and all acknowledge that the Red Army liberated Moldova from fascism, so the monument remains controversial and absent.

Non-monument outside the government offices, Chişinău

We continued along the boulevard, passing through the nearest Chişinău has to a tourist market – handicrafts, t-shirts and paintings of varying quality - and reached the point from which all distances to Chişinău are measured. London (Londra) is apparently 2,566km distant.

O km, Chişinău

Lunch at La Plăcinte, Chişinău

Our tour was over and we strolled back with N to the City Park where she recommended we lunch at La Plăcinte, one of a dozen or so branches in the city, on the edge of the park. N told us what not to eat (she knew our lunch menu for tomorrow), made some suggestions and left.

We shared a turkey salad and aubergine puréed with garlic. It may not have been original, but it was very good. Our supermarkets dictate what must be grown, insisting on perfectly shaped, perfectly coloured fruit and veg with a long shelf life. Nowhere do they concern themselves with flavour. It is not like that in Moldova.

Lunch at La Placente, Chişinău

We also discovered that here 50cl of beer was 20 lei (£1), less than half the price of the hotel beer cellar.

A Walk and a Demonstration

We had a walk in the afternoon, accidentally finding Pushkin’s house…

Lynne finds Pushkin's House, Chişinău

…and photographing odd corners that give the flavour of the city.

A corner of Chişinău

We noticed a steady stream of people making their way up Strada Eugen Doga towards the city centre and later heard chanting. The demonstration was against the annulment of the recent mayoral election on a dubious technicality. ‘We make our choice,’ N said later (these are not her exact words), ‘maybe we make a bad decision, but it is our decision, and then America or Russia tells us it must be changed.’ I am unsure about Putin, but I think she overestimates America’s interest. I am not completely sure The Donald could find Europe on a map; I am certain he could not find Moldova.

A steady stream of demonstrators towards the centre, Chişinău

We dropped into the bar on the left above to watch England's demolition of a woeful Panamanian team. Emerging around 5 o'clock we watched the demonstrators heading the other way, following them down to where the trolley buses turned as they headed for home.

Trolley buses taking the demonstrators home, Chişinău

We dined at a pub across the road from our hotel. Grilled meat and vegetables were simple but good and we dipped our toes into the world of Moldovan wine. A rosé made from Merlot and Saperavi, a dark red Georgian variety, was inexpensive, dry and crisp with an intriguing honeyed finish. Good start.

Moldova (and Transnistria) Posts
Part 1:Chisinau, a Modest Capital
Part 2:Purcari, Fine Moldovan Wine
Part 3: Orheiul Vechi and Cricova Winery
Part 4: Transnistria, a Day Out in a Non-existent Country