“LET’S try this!” Victor Bostan selects a 1984 red from the cellar of his Purcari winery. He is in a bullish mood. Last month Purcari shares began trading on the Bucharest stock exchange. In 2017 sales from his four wineries were up 35% on 2016. Bad weather in the big western European winemaking countries caused production to plummet to its lowest level in 60 years. But in Moldova, where the weather was good, producers can scarcely contain their excitement at how well things are going.
In Soviet days almost all Moldovan wine went to the rest of the Soviet Union. In the 1980s its vineyards were uprooted when Mikhail Gorbachev began his anti-alcoholism campaign. With the collapse of the Soviet Union much of Moldova’s industry also collapsed; but the wine and brandy businesses did not. Indeed, says Mr Bostan, these were the best times ever. Russia, to which 80% of the country’s booze went, had an unslakable thirst for it. “It was like pumping oil from the...Continue reading
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