Vinul Moldovei Vol. 5

Vinul Moldovei, volume five. The recipe has not changed: Moldovan wine, grilled meat, and no white tablecloths. Simple food and Moldovan wine is the combination I grew up on, and it still beats any tasting room.

This year leans on the young and the small, the new releases I keep bringing back from Moldova. A sparkling white from three native grapes. A pink pét-nat made from three Bordeaux ones. A Fetească Neagră built from two harvests, and Rară Neagră, one of the country's old red grapes, from a two-hectare family farm by the Nistru. A still Rkatsiteli from forty-year-old vines. And a limited-edition Fetească Neagră at almost fifteen degrees, built to stand up to anything off the grill.

The date and the place are still settling. I am aiming for Sunday, 8 November, and we will meet at a shashlik place, most likely Kara-Bala again if they are still open. I will confirm both once they are certain.

Six bottles, ten seats, one long table.