Escape the Crisis (September 2006) We Escape to Alba? Desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s already August, more than a month since the new alcohol control regime took effect in Russia, and the wine shelves are still empty. read more Country in Crisis (August 2006) Where is the Wine? It’s July 7, seven days after the new Russian alcohol tax stamp regime took effect, and the shelves are bare. read more Thai Expedition (July 2006) Wine Tasting at Blue Elephant This month our Knights of the Vine headed to Thailand, at least the next best thing in Moscow, the Blue Elephant, home to the best and most authentic Thai food in the city. read more Fellowship of the Vine (June 2006) New Zealand Wines New Zealand flashed in the public eye twice during recent years: as the set for the Lord of the Rings films and for its terrific Sauvignon Blanc wines... read more Balkan Heritage (May 2006) Balkan Wines The wines of these countries are experiencing a post-Yugoslavic renaissance, with a number of new investments being made in this ancient wine region... read more It's in the Glass (April 2006) Do Wine Glasses Matter? This month, our expanded Expat wine tasting panel found out through a class at Vinum, a wine shop at Prechistenka 60... read more The Birthplace of Wine (March 2006) Georgian Wine It was only a matter of time before we would get to the wines of Georgia, considered by many to be the best of countries of the USSR. There is some basis for this claim, and not only because Georgia-born Stalin provided the industry with extensive resources. Georgian wines have a royal lineage; it is considered the source of the first cultivated grapevines. read more 2005 Round-Up (February 2006) Summing Up 2005 From an expat perspective, there were a few improvements in the Moscow wine market in 2005, not the least of which was the wine tasting and rating series from Passport. Those of us who seek quality – together with value – have had an opportunity to rate the wines available to us in Moscow, and see the results in these pages. We here present a summary of the best from each wine tasting, a quick reference list you can use when shopping for wine in Moscow. read more Endless Summer in Moscow (January 2006) Australian Wine Ever wonder – while we in the Big Onion pray for continued Global Warming, peering out the window each dark morning to see if a meter of snow has blocked our door – what are they doing in Australia? Golfing, surfing, diving, tanning, and popping some shrimp on the barbi. Winemakers are tending their grapes in anticipation of the March harvest. read more Knights Forward(December 2005) Burgundy For our first foray into French wine country, our Knights of the Vine ventured straight forward to the Cote d’Or of Burgundy, considered by many to be the world’s greatest wine region. This was no side trip; there were no lightweight stops for November’s Beaujolais Nouveau. Our Knights challenged the Big Reds. read more A Winemakers’ Oktoberfest (November 2005) German Wine While Munich is drowning in hops for its Oktoberfest, the more serious business of grape harvest begins in western Germany along the Rhine and Mosel rivers. And though Munich now celebrates Oktoberfest in September to accommodate the weather (and tourists), nature has its own schedule, and serious German winemakers must patiently wait and watch the sugar levels of their Riesling grapes. read more An Invitation We Couldn't Refuse (October 2005) Sicilian Wine Don John Ortega called the Commission to Sicily for its first trial of Old World wines. Sicily has long been a backwater of Italian wines; it produces large quantities of jug wines and is best known for its Marsala dessert wines. However, that is recent history – in antiquity the wines of Sicily were prized throughout the region. read more Off on Safari (September 2005) South African Wine This month our crew went hunting “big game” in South Africa, a country that produces some red wines that can accompany just about any meat that bwana drags home for the table. Post-apartheid, the South African wine industry has flourished and international investors have flocked in. The results have been stunning, but prices have not yet shot through the lodge roof. read more California Gold (Summer 2005) California Chardonnay and Cabernet This month, Passport’s expat panel was sent to dig through the Moscow wine market for some glitter among the meager California claims. We continued our quest to prove that there really is some gold in those halls, though the extraction price would prove sky high. read more Chilean Shootout (June 2005) Chilean Wine Passport asked our wine panel to help our readers find some decent wines in Moscow’s supermarkets and wine shops. This month we began with Chile, the New World wine country that has the largest selection in Moscow. read more Russia’s Bordeaux (May 2005) A Russian Wine Our tasting panel is very surprised by Chateau le Grand Vostock. read more