Name: Oven-Baked Pearl Barley Pilaf with Chicken and Mushrooms
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 1 h 49 min
Cuisine: Romanian
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken, divided into 8 pieces; 2 onions, sliced; 8 oz package, pearl barley; 3 celery sticks, diced; 1 carrot, diced; 1 red pepper, diced; 14 oz can diced tomatoes; 8 to 10 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced; 16 oz chicken stock; 2 Tbsp butter; flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, roughly chopped (optional); Cooking oil; Salt, 2 tsp or to taste; Pepper, 1 tsp, or to taste

Earlier this year I got the chance to explore the wines of Moldova for the first time. It was a lot of fun trying new grapes and dishes I loved. This weekend marked Moldova National Wine Day (Oct 3rd and 4th this year) and I had the chance to celebrate at home with a few more wines from this Eastern European country.

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova. A national wine day celebration on a typical year. This year, of course, celebrations will be held at home.

I decided to choose two new recipes and try them with two of the bottles I received as samples. For more background on Moldova and its wine history, I invite you to check out my post from earlier this year, so that we can just get right down the wine and food today.

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

Note: These bottles in today's post were received as samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

THE GRAPES

There are few grapes in these wines you might not recognize –– the first two are new to me too –– so let’s get to know them real quick.

Feteasca Alba

This variety has been cultivated for centuries in this region and appears to be a very ancient grape. It makes fine, delicate wines with floral aromas with stone fruit and tropical notes with a fairly light body. It’s used to make sparkling, dry, and sweet wines. This is one of three “maiden” grapes, as that’s the meaning of the word Feteasca. Feteasca Alba is the “white maiden.” (It’s also one of the parents of Feteasca Regal, the “royal maiden,” which we got to know last time.)

Feteasca Neagra

The third maiden in the trio is the Black Maiden. It’s over 2000 years old and probably originated around the Prut river valley in southwestern Moldova. It is capable of producing high-quality reds, with typical aromas of wild cherry and violets, concentrated berry fruit, and good structure. It can be found in dry, semi-dry, and sweet styles. This grape also has lots of anthocyanins, which are antioxidants, which basically makes this health food of course.

Saperavi

Saperavi is a dark-skinned, pink-fleshed grape variety originally from Georgia (the country) and its been gaining in popularity here for the last few years. It’s a teinturier grape, which means that the juice and flesh are also tinted red in addition to the skin – which is pretty rare. It does well and is grown throughout Eastern Europe. You can probably guess that it has lots of color, it’s also got lots of acidity and tannin. You expect flavors of dark berries, cherries, smoke, leather, spices, and tobacco.

THE WINES

I opened one white bottle and one red to try this weekend with two dishes selected.

Castel Mimi Feteasca Alba Codru 2018

Blend: 100% Feteasca Alba | $18.99 | 13.% Alc

Castel Mimi was founded in 1893 by Constantin Mimi, a politician who went on to dedicate his life to wine. He decided to apply what he’d learned of winemaking on his travels through Western Europe, planted vine cuttings at his own estate near the village of Bulboaca, and thus created the first chateau in Moldova. In 1940 Castel Mimi became state property and was later turned into an industrial wine factory during Soviet rule. While the wine factory remained in use and was expanded, the chateau was largely inactive for fifty years. However, in 2011 an ambitious restoration project was launched to renovate the mansion and its original facade has now been completely restored. The winery’s tourist area is open to guests and includes a royal courtyard with gardens, a grand square with dancing fountains, an events hall, a spa, a swimming pool, and a a summer terrace and picnic areas. You can even stay overnight in one of seven chalet-style cottages.

Tasting note: White peach, lots of blooming flowers, light fresh herbs, and a mix of lemon and grapefruit hit on the nose and continued on the palate. The wine’s texture was light, but round in the middle, following through to a crisp finish accented by light minerality and bright acidity.

Radacini Ampre Saperavi, Feteasca Neagra, Merlot 2018

Blend: 70% Saperavi, 20% Feteasca Neagra, 10% Merlot | $19.99 | 13% Alc.

Sadly, I couldn’t find out much about Radacini other than that it’s a about a decade old.

Tasting notes: Warm fruit sauce of spiced cherries, raspberries, and plums hit on the nose with a touch of cinnamon. The warmth is still there on the palate, but it’s combined with more tart notes of sour cherry and pomegranates mixed with a little tobacco and tea leaf. It was medium-bodied, with lots of acidity, and tannins that gripped but came to a silky finish.

THE FOOD

Moldova and Romania share quite a bit of history, food, and culture, so like last time I looked to the cuisines of both for inspiration.

Mamaliga with Mushrooms

I kept coming across mamaliga as a favorite dish in Moldova. It’s very similar to Italian-style polenta, and I love polenta, so this was an easy choice. I found this recipe for Mamaliga with Shiitake Mushrooms on a blog called Maya’s Kitchen. The mushrooms are seasoned with nutmeg, which is a different flavor route than I typically go with them, but it sounded warm and inviting in autumnal way. It was!

I followed the recipe pretty much as presented other than these minor changes:

I used polenta instead of cornmeal. Most recipes I looked at for mamaliga called for polenta, so I don’t see this a big change. (See this article from the Kitchn for the technical differences.)
I swapped in chicken stock for the bouillon and water.
I used half Shiitake and half cremini mushrooms to save a few bucks.
We had some leftover dry salami, so I chopped it up and tossed it in for extra meatiness. It’s not necessary at all, but an easy way to use up protein leftovers if you have some hanging around.
I’d read in several places that Mamaliga is often served with sour cream. I love sour cream, so I served some on the side.

How The Wines Paired

The red blend was the hands-down winner. The flavors matched together perfectly; in particular, the nutmeg in the dish brought out the spice notes in the wine in a beautiful way. The wine got deeper and more velvety in the combo. A seamless match.

The Feteasca Alba didn’t clash, but the combo was just ok. The wine was refreshing, but didn’t improve in the match. Greg noted that the food took the stuffing out of the wine a bit. I found that didn’t happen as much when a little bit of the sour cream was involved.

A quick update/addition: The leftovers of this dish made a delicious, cozy brunch when topped with an egg. All kinds of yum!

Oven-Baked Pearl Barley Pilaf with Chicken and Mushrooms

I found this recipe for Oven-Baked Pearl Barley Pilaf with Chicken and Mushrooms from Olive Magazine out of Carpathia: Food from the heart of Romania by Irina Georgescu, which sounded like a flavorful one-pot meal. I made only a few minor changes, but since the recipe is written for a British audience, I’ve adapted it here using ounces and pounds, etc.

How The Wines Paired

This was a much closer competition between the two wines, although I ultimately preferred the refreshing white wine in this case. I thought the match also helped further round out the mid-palate of the wine and gave it a little more flesh. Greg, on the other hand, forgot to pay attention this round and happily sipped away at the red wine while we watched a movie with dinner. I thought the red was quite nice too, but the tannin fought a bit with the chicken, although in a very minor way.

chicken, one-pot, casserole

dinner

Romanian

Servings: 4 to 6

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson, adapted from recipe by Irina Georgescu on OliveMagazine.com .

Oven-Baked Pearl Barley Pilaf with Chicken and Mushrooms

Prep Time: 20 MinCooking Time: 90 MinTotal Time: 1 H & 49 M

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, divided into 8 pieces
2 onions, sliced
8 oz package, pearl barley
3 celery sticks, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 red pepper, diced
14 oz can diced tomatoes
8 to 10 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
16 oz chicken stock
2 Tbsp butter
flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, roughly chopped (optional)
Cooking oil
Salt, 2 tsp or to taste
Pepper, 1 tsp, or to taste

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large oven-safe pan or Dutch oven, heat the oil and brown the chicken pieces on all sides until well-browned. Transfer to a plate. In the same oil, cook the onions for 10 minutes over medium heat until they begin to char. Add the pearl barley and coat the grains well with the oil, and cook for a few more minutes.
Add the chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, stock, season with salt and pepper, and stir gently. Add the dark-skin pieces of chicken back in, then cover the pan.
Put the Dutch oven in the oven. After 10 to 15 minutes, add the light-skin chicken pieces to the pan. Continue to cook for another 30 to 35 min, then uncover the pot and cook for another 10 minutes or until the barley is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Roughly chop the butter and dot the pieces around over the top.
Remove the pot from the oven, taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Sprinkle with parsley, if using, and serve.

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The bloggers of the newly minted World Wine Travel Group (#WorldWineTravel) have also been celebrating Moldova's National Wine Day. Check out their posts to see how they've been celebrating:

Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Two Indigenous Moldovan Grapes – Fetească Albă and Fetească Neagră – Paired With Colțunași Harnici (Hard-Working Dumplings)”
Wendy from A Day In The Life On The Farm is “Celebrating the Food and Wine of Moldova”
David from CookingChat has “Food Pairings for Moldavan Wines”
Lori from Exploring the Wine Glass shares “Sitting Down with Master of Wine Caroline Gilby to Discuss Moldovan Wine”
Terri from Our Good Life shares “Moldova Wine Day Celebration!”
Linda from My Full Wine Glass is “Celebrating ‘My Wine Day’ and the little country that could”
Robin at Crushed Grape Chronicles shares “Moldovan Wine – moving forward while not losing track of the authentic grapes of their past” #WorldWineTravel
Susannah from Avvinare writes “You say Feteasca and I’ll Say Moldova”
Jennifer at Vino Travels tells us about “Eye Openers to the Wines of Moldova”
Melanie from Wining With Mel is “Exploring new territory with Moldovan wines”
Jeff from foodwineclick asks the question “Are Local Grapes the Future of Moldovan Wines?”
Lynn at Savor the Harvest I share “Moldovan Native Wine Grape Discoveries” #WorldWineTravel
Jill from L’Occasion discusses “Wines of Moldova: Worth the Adventure”
Payal from Keep the Peas pairs “Kashmiri Yakhni Pulao and Moldovan Wine”
Rupal at Syrah Queen shares “Celebrate Moldova National Wine Day – Exploring Native Varieties”
Liz Barrett from What’s In That Bottle shares “Moldova National Wine Day is Here!”
Pinny from Chinese Food And Wine Pairings tells us about “Celebrating Moldova National Wine Day with Chinese Food”
Gwendolyn from Wine Predator shares "Meet Moldova: 2018 Purcari 1827 Rara Negra de Purcari Vin Sec Rosu Paired with Pizza #WorldWineTravel "
Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen tells us about "Meatless Moldovan Food and Wine" #WorldWineTravel

Additional sources used for this post:

This post contains affiliate links, including the following Amazon Associate links, from which I might receive a commission at no cost to you.

I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve had the chance to taste wines from many unexpected places and little known grapes. For this reason, I get all the more excited when I have the opportunity to try something completely new to me. This month the Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) blogging group is getting to know the wines of Moldova, and I was thrilled to receive samples for this event, as this Eastern European country’s wines were a new frontier for me. For that matter, Moldova’s food was also pretty new to me, so I went down a fun little rabbit hole looking into the cuisine and I ended up finding some absolutely delicious recipes to pair with our wines.

A BRIEF LOOK AT MOLDOVA’S WINE HISTORY

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

The Republic of Moldova might be the tiniest and poorest country in Europe, but it has an ancient winemaking history that started around 3000 BC, with the first of evidence of grapevines in the area dating as far back as 7000 BC. Their wine traditions are embedded in their culture and folklore, and (as the literature provided by Wine of Moldova points out) the country’s modern map is even kind of shaped like a bunch of grapes (sort of). Unfortunately, much like other countries with ancient wine traditions in the region (take Armenia as another example), quality winemaking here suffered from long hiatuses due to religious and political forces.

As mentioned, the country’s wine tradition goes way back, it went on to hit its high point in the 15th century during the reign of Stefan the Great. Ottoman rule brought things to halt, putting winemaking on pause for three hundred years as Islamic law forbade the production and consumption of alcohol.

Winemaking bounced back when the Principality of Moldavia was ceded to Russian rule starting in 1812, and became known as Bessarabia. The country’s status was ping-ponged around for the next couple hundred years as pieces were split off then reformed in various configurations and under different name; at times coming under Russian rule, at other brief periods it had independence, and at others forming part of Romania.

The roller coaster ride came to an end for a while when it came under Soviet rule in 1940. Sadly, the Soviet period sent the quality level of the wine plunging backward again. Soviet Russia wanted a lot of wine, so production went way up, but they weren’t very interested in it being particularly good. So like other wine-producing states of the former USSR, Moldova mostly produced bulk wine during this period.

They gained their independence in 1991 as the Republic of Moldova, and for a while relations with Russia were good and they continued to be the major market for the tiny country’s wine, but then things got rocky. First, Gorbachev began an anti-alcoholism campaign, later, this was followed by various political disputes that led to bans on imported Moldovan wines. The first of these came in 2006, and Russia imposed another round when Moldova joined the EU.

These events were economically damaging at first, however, Moldova managed to turn these major blows in their favor as it pushed them to refocus on quality. In 2013, Moldova adopted a quality system based on the EU model of protected geographical indications (PGI ), organized around three traditional vine growing areas: Valul lui Traian, Ștefan Vodă and Codru, as well as a category of Divin for brandy. They also established a National Office for Vine and Wine, which in turn instituted many structural reforms. They dove into research on the climate and growing conditions, and have worked hard to build up their tourism industry with considerable focus on wine attractions. In addition, there has been a major shift from state to private ownership, with the exceptions of two large wineries, Cricova and Mileştii Mici, remaining state-owned. We'll get to know Cricova better in a moment.

Fun Facts:

Moldvoa has the highest density of vineyards of any country in the world.

Moldova has vast underground cellars at Cricova and at Mileștii Mici. The latter holds the Guinness World Record for the largest wine collection in the world, consisting of more than 1.5 million bottles and growing every year.

Since it’s independence Moldova has celebrated its Ziua Nationala a Vinului (National Wine Day) each year on the second weekend in October, just after the end of vintage.

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

CLIMATE & LANDSCAPE

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

Despite all of the ups and downs pushed on Moldova’s wine industry by external forces, it has pretty great conditions for growing wine grapes. It’s landlocked, bordered by Ukraine to the east and Romania to the west, so generally speaking, it has a continental climate with cold winters and long, warm summers. Nonetheless, the climate stays fairly moderate and temperatures don’t usually reach the kinds of extremes that can cause damage to vines or lower the quality of the grapes. The Black Sea is not far away which helps moderate conditions. Rainfall also tends to stay pretty moderate. Conditions vary by subregion of course, but a good portion of the country’s topography is made up of gently rolling hills that are ideal for viticulture and is mirrored in the fact that the country has the highest density of vineyards in the world.

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

THE GRAPES

You’ll find the whole gang of international wine grapes here, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, as well as Riesling. The French wine grapes actually have a long history in the region, predating the arrival of phylloxera in 1891, as these grapes were popular with the tsars. You’ll even find some less expected Frenchy grapes like Aligoté. European grapes account for 85% of planting.

The international gang didn’t push out the locals completely though. You’ll also find grapes typical of the wider Black Sea Basin area like Rkatsitel and Saperavi – these account for about 10% of plantings – as well as a few indigenous to the more immediate areas (some originated in Romania, but still not too far away). Some of these local varieties include Rară Neagră, Viorica, Fetească Neagră, Fetească Albă, and Fetească Regala. Fetească means “maiden” in Romanian, so the last three make for a trio of fair ladies. The first two take their name from their color – black and white respectively. The third maiden wears the crown in the group. Ragala means royal, so she’s a royal maiden or a princess. Right now, local grapes account for only 5% of the vineyard plantings, but this is growing each year thanks to growing international interest and support from the government. The infographic below introduces some of these local grapes.

Vineyard plantings skew heavily towards white wine production, with white varieties making up the lion’s share at 70%, versus red varieties at 30%.

FOOD

Moldovan culture, along with its cuisine, is largely influenced by the Romanian origins of most of its population, but its food also takes cues from Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Greek, and Polish, cuisines as well. It’s basically located at a cultural crossroads and has been ruled in its history by various empires, so it borrows a little from each and in the blending of them all, takes on its own flare.

I looked at several sites for inspiration and then found two recipes at Where Is My Spoon, a blog by a Romanian woman living in Germany that explores the cuisines of both countries, as well as others.

I’m going to focus on two of the pairings today.

Suvorov Kazayak Feteasca Regala 2018 with Cheese Plăcintă

Blend: Feteasca Regala | $17.99 | 12.5% alc.

I always a little more excited by an indigenous grape that I’ve never tried before, so the first wine from the sample set we opened was the Suvorov Kazayak Feteasca Regala 2018. The grape, Feteasca Regala, is our princess from the trio of maidens described above. I couldn’t find much info on the winemaking as details on the winery’s website were a bit scant and nuances seemed to get lost in translation, but the winery was found in 1958 by French winemakers.

I couldn't find many details on the wine on line, but there's a bit of info on the back label.

The Wine

On the nose, I smelled herbs and citrus fruits with a touch of stone fruit. On the palate, a mix of citrus fruits returned with lemon, lime, and a bit of grapefruit pith, along with fresh green herbs. There was a bit of creamy texture on the midpalate, possibly from lees, that rounded out the mouthfeel, leading into a salty, mineral finish. It was medium- in body with lots of zingy acidity (medium + to high).

The Pairing

One item that repeatedly caught my eye on the many lists of Moldovan specialties I looked at was Plăcintă. The word comes from the Latin word placenta meaning flat cake, and it’s a traditional Romanian stuffed pastry, pie, or thin cake. These pies are also popular all over Moldova, and come in many different forms with various sweet or savory fillings. As such, they can be consumed at any time of the day depending on the filling.

I love a savory, stuffed pastry and I’ve been on a major baking kick during quarantine, so the version I found on Where Is My Spoon which is stuffed with a mixture of cheese, dill, and green onions, really appealed to me. The only change I made to the recipe was to include shredded mozzarella in the cheese mixture to give the filling a touch of meltiness. I saw it used in other versions I looked at, so I took the liberty.

It took me a couple of tries to get a handle on folding the dough, as well as to calibrate the heat and the timing on cooking, but then got the hang of it fairly quickly. (Translation: Don’t be intimidated and forge ahead! It’s not as tricky as it seems.)

We turned these pies into a meal by including roasted vegetables on the side. Greg and I had a couple each for dinner and still had plenty leftover for breakfasts and snacks over the next few days. I’ve also frozen a few for later. I don’t know how mine compare to the originals in flavor, but I’m going to pat myself on the back here because I think they look pretty close to the pictures from the recipe. WE LOVED THESE! I’ll definitely be making them again.

The wine was lovely and refreshing on its own but got even better in the combo. The herbal notes in the wine and the food played off each other nicely, and a slight bitter note that was in the wine became rounded and smoothed out in the pairing.

Cricova Prestige Codru 2015 with Pârjoale

Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon 75%, Merlot 25% | $19.99 | 13% alc.

Cricova’s winery sounds fascinating. They are described as having an ‘underground city,’ made up of a labyrinth of tunnels that stretch 70 kilometers, created from a former limestone quarry that was dug out in 15th century, when the limestone was used to help build the city of Chişinău. It was converted to its present usage as a wine cellar in 1952. It’s the second largest wine cellar in Moldova, after Milestii Mici, which is the largest in the world. It houses 30 million litres of wine, and even has streets running through, some of which are as deep as 80 meters below ground. It houses the National Wine Collection and boasts strange and unique wine artifacts like part of Herman Goering’s wine collection, which was confiscated after World War II, and a 1902 bottle of Ierusalimul de Paști (Easter Jerusalem) which is unique in the world.

Photo courtesy of Wine of Moldova.

I’m not sure I’ve completely wrapped my head around the description of this place – I think it needs to be seen. (Someday!) However, I invite you to check out this article from Forbes for further descriptions to marvel at and puzzle over

The Wine

The winery is known for producing traditional method sparkling wines (i.e. in the style of Champagne), but they also make many other styles. I received the Cricova Prestige Codru 2015, a blend of Cab and Merlot.

On the nose I picked up notes of cassis, lightly stewed red and black berries, tobacco and cigar box spices, rose petals, and an herbal note that reminded me of walking through a greenhouse. The berries were fresher on the palate and were joined by sour cherries, chocolate, mixed herbs and forest greenery. (I didn’t know this when I tasted it, but Cordu, the area this wine is from, has a lot of forest areas.) It was a fairly classic Cabernet profile, but was a bit lighter than most New World styles, and with more red fruits in the mix. It had lots of acidity (medium +), the body was medium verging on medium+, and had firm but smooth tannins.

You can find more details on this wine here.

The Pairing

Pârjoale are Moldovan/Romanian meatballs or meat patties. They’re typically herby and can be made from different meats. We love meatballs and I love having extras around in the freezer for easy meals later, so these caught my attention. Again I found an accessible version on Where is My Spoon.

These are made to be flatter than most meatballs. I’m often a little secretly annoyed when I pan-fry meatballs and they come out looking more like little rounded pyramids, with one flat side, rather than round balls, so I happily leaned into just flattening them out a bit. More importantly, they were very flavorful, tender, and very moist. (I actually think you can get away with less egg than called for in this recipe.) Yum! Another winning recipe that I think I will come back to.

I served these with cheesy polenta, as polenta is very common in Moldova. I didn’t follow a traditional recipe for the region in this case, and just served it creamy. (Although I’m flagging this version here for future exploration!) They typically load it up with cheese and sour cream which sounds amazing. I had a little cheese mixture leftover from making the placinte, so I used it to top the polenta to keep in the spirit of cheesy goodness.

The wine and the food went quite well together with the herbal notes in each playing off each other very nicely. I think the wine was just a little bigger than what would be my ideal match for the meatballs, but in general, this was a harmonious match.

I’ll quickly note that we had a little roasted red pepper spread as a condiment with both dishes. We love this stuff and I know versions exist all around Eastern Europe and into the Middle East. I found that Romania and Moldova have a version called Zacuscă, so I hopefully wasn't straying to far from my intended authenticity, and we found it made a nice addition in both cases.

I also received a fascinating bottle of Albastrele Taking Root Blanc de Cabernet 2018 ($15.99). This a white wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. It was kind of a trip of a wine since it was more structured than your typical white wine, and tasted kind of like Sauvignon Blanc on steroids with touches of red fruit notes in the mix. We enjoyed it with a take on Bangers and Mash with Parmesan sausages and smashed potatoes with leeks.

I gotta say, these experiments encapsulated exactly what I love so much about wine and food. These bottles sent me on little mini-adventures in my own home which allowed me to get to know a little bit about a place I knew next to nothing about. In the process, we discovered a couple of delicious recipes we might not have otherwise come across, but will definitely be returning to. Little adventures like these are such a lifeline at this moment when venturing far from home isn’t a possibility.

As noted, the wines for this post were provided as media samples. No other compensation was received and, as always, all opinions are my own.

Photo credit on the majority of the food and wine pictures to Greg Hudson.

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As I mentioned at the top, the rest of the Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) blogging group is also exploring the wines of Moldova this month. Thanks so much to Jeff of Food Wine Click! for hosting this months event and to Gregroy & Vine PR for organizing samples from Wine of Moldova.

Andrea at The Quirky Cork shares “Cooking Out with Moldovan Wine”
Liz at What’s in that Bottle shares “Moldova Mashup: Wines of Moldova & Foods of the World”
Terri at Our Good Life shares “Special Celebration and Moldova Wines”
Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm shares “Smoked Pot Roast with a Negru de Purcari from Moldova”
David at Cooking Chat shares “Ground Beef Chili with Red Wine from Moldova”
Deanna at Asian Test Kitchen shares “Pairing Moldovan Wine with Burmese Cuisine”
Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “Finally, a grill! Just in time for Moldovan wine pairing”
Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Maidens from Moldova + Summer Suppers”
Jennifer at Vino Travels Italy shares “A Look into the Wines of Moldova”
Jane at Always Ravenous shares “Savory Cheese Crostata Paired with Moldovan Wines”
Michelle at Rockin Red Blog shares “Discovering Wines of Moldova.”
Cindy at Grape Experiences shares “Have You Tasted Wines from Moldova? Try These!”
Rupal at Syrah Queen shares “Uncorking Moldova – Three Wines To Try Now”
Martin at Enofylz Wine Blog shares “Getting To Know the Wines of Moldova”
Gwendolyn at Wine Predator shares “Moldova: Bubbles, Red Blend, and …Pizza? Yes!”
Pinny at Chinese Food and Wine Pairings shares “Moldovan Wines and Korean Sushi – Kimbap”
Susannah from Avvinare shares “Moldova – An Ancient Country with Beautiful Wines to Discover”
Jill at L'Occasion shares "A First Taste of Moldova Wines"
Jeff at Food Wine Click! shares “Cabin Pairings for Moldovan Wines”

Additional sources used for this post:
Nomad Paradise: Moldovan Food - 14 Best Traditional Dishes as Recommended by a Local
Taste Atlas: Top 6 Most Popular Moldovan Foods
Trip 101: Traditional Food in Moldova
Wine-Searcher
Wine of Moldova USA
JancisRobinson.com
Wikipedia: Cricova
As well as information provided by Wine of Moldova.

This post contains affiliate links, including the following Amazon Associate links, from which I might receive a commission at no cost to you.