Aug 23 2010
A Transylvanian Wine Tasting
A Romanian Vineyard - photo by Lisa
As soon as I retrieved my ridiculously heavy suitcase at the airport in Timişoara, Romania, my friend informed me that we had less than an hour to get ready and head to a Romanian wine tasting.
The wine tasting was being held for a Franco-Romanian university conference. Through a curious chain of events, I mysteriously wound up as a “visiting dignitary from the United States.” My friend’s father-in-law organized the conference, and so we were invited to be his guests. It is true that I was an English teacher in Romania years ago, but I am not sure how the rumor started that I was actually “important.” Due to my poor language skills, however, I just went with it and was treated to a guided tasting at a beautiful winery and one of the heartiest meals of my life.
Wine Cellar in Timisoara - photo by Lisa
From the outside, the winery could have been anywhere in the world. The view of the sunsetting over the rolling hills that led up to the winery could just as easily been Tuscany, Napa, New Zealand, or Washington state. However, as we started to descend the maze of torch-lit stone passageways, I peaked into the rooms and saw dusty bottles stacked to ceiling. The experience then took on more of a medieval Romanian vibe.
We started out with a guided tasting of Romanian reds and whites. When I remarked to my friends that it was hard to find Romanian wines in Boston, they explained how they don’t export a lot of wine; they prefer to drink it themselves. I was so tired from traveling, concentrating on trying to understand the Romanian professor seated next to me, and explaining why I spoke horrible Romanian, that the only thing that I remember about the wines is that they are really sweet. However, the wine did do the trick, and soon I thought that I was speaking fluent Romanian.
Dusty Wine Bottles - photo by Lisa
So while my friends back home in the U.S. were getting ready to see the midnight showing of Twilight, seeing vampires suck blood in Washington state, I was sipping a nice, hearty Transylvanian red. Which kind of makes me feel like I win the vampire wars.
Read more: GeneralLisa can usually be found staring longingly at the Eastern European shelf at the Globe Corner Bookstore. However, she really wants to go to Colombia.
