My Article: Russia’s Wine Capital

It’s estimated that two million fine wine drinkers are in Moscow, a city with an official population of close to 13 million. I tasted wine with a few of them over the last three days while visiting the great city with my teenage son Jack, and I find an intense curiosity and interest for premium wines – especially Italian wines and Bordeaux.

They share the same concerns as the rest, like high prices for top-named Bordeaux and the abundance of alcohol in many wines, such as those from California and Australia. They are looking for interesting wines full of character from honest and determined wine producers. And they are interested in drinking wine with food, both in restaurants and at home.

The few restaurants I visited, such as Semifreddo and Bontempi (both Italian), as well as Grand Cru and Café Pushkin, have very good wine lists. The problem – with the exception of Grand Cru – is that restaurants use markups of three or four times. This makes top wines extremely expensive in the capital of Russia. For instance, a bottle of 2006 Fontodi Flaccianello costs 10,200 rubles, or about $365; that’s about three times US retail. But we have the same problem in North America.

One of the most amusing moments to me so far was the lunch at Café Pushkin when we ate delicious Russian food like small savory vegetable and meat pies, blini with red caviar, marinated vegetables, and fish, with a fruity Alsace Riesling. It was a beautiful combination.

Walking through Red Square and visiting the Kremlin is breathtaking. Moscow seems a vibrant city with a dynamic and growing fine wine culture.

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