Hope and Promise... don't we want to open the door and have them drop by for a visit every once in a while? My mind tickled with apprehension as I pushed my way into the "Joint..."
For decades the wines of the old Eastern bloc lived behind a curtain of their own - overlooked, underestimated, and largely unseen at Western tables. But the vine is patient, and history has a way of turning. Today the cellars of Hungary, Slovenia, Georgia and their neighbors are pouring bottles with real character and, better yet, real value.
That is what draws the Sleuth through the door: the promise of discovery. A wine with a story, made somewhere the guidebooks forgot, poured by someone happy to tell you about it. You will not always find greatness - but you will always find something honest, and every so often something remarkable.
Pour boldly this season. The best bottle on your table may be the one nobody at it has heard of.
Originally published in View AZ Highlife Magazine, Dec 2007 / Jan 2008.