Wine from Moldova? Monthly features from Boulder Wine Merchant.

Before the events of the last 12 months, few Americans would have been able to find Moldova on a map. It’s a small country of 2.6 million sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania.

Even fewer knew that Moldova is renowned for the high quality of its wines.

Before 2022, a handful of wines from Moldova were trickling into the U.S. through small importers who knew just how great these are and the value the represent. Today, we are happy to report that we are seeing more and more of these wines available in our market.

We couldn’t be more thrilled to be including a Moldovan wine in this month’s current features, the Unicorn Winery 2018 Purcari Valley, Moldova ($18.99).

Here’s the staff tasting note:

We are excited to enable you to try a wine from Moldova, which is one of the world’s oldest winemaking regions. Very few bottles of Moldovan wine get imported to the U.S., since most of them go to Russia and Romania. The Unicorn winery is located in the Pucari Valley, which is in southwestern Moldova. We love that this blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, and 25% Rara Neagra includes a native variety. Its garnet hue gives way to expressive and detailed aromas of dark berry fruits intermixed with black tea leaves. One quarter of the wine is aged in French barriques for 9 months, which helps round out the palate. This lovely red is complex with a medium body and a lingering finish. 

It’s just one of the 12 new wines we’re featuring on the site this month.

Here’s the flight of wines we’ll be pouring at our weekly complimentary tasting, Wednesday, March 8, 5-7 pm:

Cantine di Dolia Nova “In Cantos” 2021 Vermentino di Sardenga ($14.99) 
Gonnet “Le Reveur” 2021 Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc ($11.99)
Unicorn Winery 2018 Purcari Valley, Moldova ($18.99)
Johnny Q Petite Sirah 2017, New South Wales, Australia ($13.99)

We hope to see you then. In the meantime, long live Moldovan wine!