Central and Eastern European wine
As consumers get more confident in their wine knowledge they will be looking to expand their vinous horizons this year and will be experimenting with lesser-known grapes from some of the world’s more undiscovered wine regions. Sales of Slovenian Furmint are up by 159% at Waitrose, which recently launched a range of lesser-known wines, including an Arinto from Portugal and a Cannonau from Sardinia.
Expect to see wines from Central and Eastern Europe given more space on wine lists this year, and more frequently offered by the glass, as drinkers with a thirst for knowledge seek out drops from Croatia, Romania and Slovenia, the latter being home to a plethora of orange wines that continue to charm consumers’ palates.
Mexican chef Santiago Lastra, who headed up Noma’s Mexico pop-up, will be shining a light on organic and biodynamic drops from Central and Eastern Europe at his London venture Kol, due to open in Marylebone in March, where his house wine is made by Slovakian estate Slobodne.
