From Russia with corks

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A clutch of Russian wines turned out to be rather impressive.

A Belgian wine importer contacted me to suggest I tasted some Russian wines he is currently importing into Europe. Dimitri Bonte's company Start2taste is based in Waregem. Last November he imported into Europe what he claims is the first container of wines from the Krasnodar region on the Black Sea to the east of Crimea (see this map). This was the region I visited back in 2009 and I seem to remember some muttering about incomers. (See, for instance, Russian wine gets real.)  

According to Bonte...