One more show is over, probably the one we enjoyed the most this year - The Bristol Wine and Food Fair 2009. Very well organised, lovely people and good company! It was so busy that I didnt even manage to take enough pictures from there, yet below are a few with my fellow ASDW (Association of Small Direct Merchants) members - Lafayette’s Wines and Hyde Park Wines with whom we had a great laugh. Despite the rain that we had most of the Saturday, it was quite a successful show and we will probably more than certain do it again next year.

From the 18th to 21st of June this year, for four full days, we indulged the Londoners in Regents Park to our exquisite wines matching the foods of the top London restaurants.  At the same time we celebrated the introduction of the new wines from Crama Oprisor, Ptujska Klet, Cricova and Casal da Coelheira wineries.  It was enchanting to learn that in our portfolio there was a wine for every palate and all our wines were appreciated in full. The ultimate tasting experience was also complimented by our sparkling Brut de Rezerva from Cricova, which was a huge success, with many of those who tasted it, having preferred it to some other medal winning champagnes. Bring it on baby!

Below we took a few pictures from the show, also nicknamed ‘The world’s greatest restaurant festival’. Enjoy and share.

Following our presence at the Wine+ Trade Show, we had been approached to sponsor the Country Living Magazine Gala Evening and exhibit/organise wine tasting at the fair. It didn’t take us much hesitation to accept the offer and there we were - last week busy at the fair.

The show took place at the London Business Design Centre in Islington lasting 5 days between 11th and 15th of March with some 20-30k visitors attended. On the day one, there was this Gala Evening where £4 from each ticket sold was donated to charity as well as each visitor could serve a glass of Cricova wine. The wines have been received very well by the general public and I managed to take a few pictures from the evening.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to our brand new blog, which is aimed at becoming a wealthy source of information about unknown but enthusiastic winemakers, fine old wines, picturesque regions and all of the finer things in life. I will write the first few blogs and present some background information as to why Exquisite Wines was founded as well as introduce our Wine Masters who will occasionally contribute to this blog. However, there is a space open to anyone that wishes to submit their experience, views or even delicious recipes for publishing. Please get in touch via the contact us page for guidelines on how to become an Editor on our Blog.

So, where do we start? I suppose I should introduce myself! I am both your humble blogger and the founder of Exquisite Wine.
I was born in 1978 in a Soviet Moldavian village named Colibash and raised in a transitional ‘communist- entrepreneuristic’ time when it was ok for the farmers to make their own wine although at the time Gorbachev had just introduced a limit on vines per household. In the mid 90’s I attended college to study International Trade Relations after which I immigrated to the UK. At my new home, I finished my studies in Accounting and Finance at the University of Southampton. I subsequently founded and ran a computer business specializing in bespoke designs and have now finally found my way back to my roots in the wine world.

Just for the record, in Moldova practically every villager grows his or her own vine at home and it’s considered normal to find in one’s cellar a few hundred decaliters of homemade wine. Interestingly, everyone makes wine in their own way, from the variety of vine planted to the type of barrels used. I can’t say that I particularly loved agricultural works in general, but I did find the grape harvest to be a fun activity as you can see from the picture. Even at the end of the day our eyes were filled with joy – great fun!

Furthermore, you won’t have too much trouble finding a parent who allows their child to taste wine well before turning 16 and that’s considered perfectly normal over in Moldova. However, please do note the use of the word ‘taste’ rather than ‘drink’ . Without going into too much detail, I would like to share my FIRST real life wine-adventure. But please don’t expect to find out how I got drunk for the first time, that story will have to wait for another time. This was my first real-life winemaking adventure! Read the rest of this entry »