Friday, 6 May,2016 – Bucharest and surrounds

Today we drive out to a wine area outside Bucharest to learn about and taste Romanian wines. We are picked up at 8:30 and there is a lot of rush hour traffic to drive through. Eventually, after 2 plus hours we read The Hill where there are a lot of grapes growing and wineries and arrive at our guest winery.

The Host is very knowledgeable, speaks English, friendly – just what you want.

We went in to see the various bits of equipment that they use to sort the grapes, crush the, ferment, bottle, label etc.

We had been given a glass of rose at the start and told to bring the glass along. From the steel barrels we had a taste of their multi-grape white and a very young Shiraz.

So, what is all this about the Lizard?

We eventually reach the cellar door where we started, we have been set-up with a table, stools and snacks.

The table, and my stool in particular, seem to be falling off a cliff but on close inspection there is glass there.

Out host asks me which wines to taste and I select three. He says that this is not good enough, 6 are required. The serves are quite generous, his point is that it gives the taster a chance to swirl the lot around and a generous taste and then tip the rest.

We bought several to take away. During the tasting a heavy downpour occurred but as we leave is has dampened down a lot. I would have to say, it was one of the better winery visits we have been to. BTW: Roy, have you tried Romanian wines? Some,e.g. the Shiraz, were very good. The Romanian grapes, a little less so.

After that we drive to a nearby town, Buzau for lunch a Taverna Buzolana. Arival time is, deliberately, after 2:00 and the large place is nearly empty.

There was quite a lot of discussion as to what we should have for lunch. Julie of course wanted the salmon on the menu but Alexandra cautioned that it was likely frozen and not very nice. She suggested we go for one of the platters for two:

The latter dish for Alexandra and the large pile of sausages eventually defeated her. Julie had a side salad and with some of the pickled vegies, and a litle bit of the meat, evenually had enough. Me, I piked out with still a fair bit left on the platter.

We drive back to town. It is still realtively early in the afternoon, which does not stop me from napping and Blogging. The girls go out and their separate ways. Julie goes into a market with the following photos:

On that disgraceful note I will sign off on this Post.