Can this ALBANIAN 🇦🇱 SANGIOVESE beat a BRUNELLO di Montalcino???

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Want more Sangiovese??? Check this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/onSak2CdorqJm68si=hPuMF_kXERI85mFv

[@melsialiaj]

Oh wow, thank you for featuring Albania 🇦🇱 😊

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🇦🇱

[@DRCOBRA50]

My first trip to Tuscany was last year and being new to wine tasting, I immediately noticed the Brunello di Montalcino as the best wine I have ever had, by far. Excited to go to Bordeaux and back to Tuscany to explore more this year.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Niceee! Enjoy both and happy tasting.

[@solomonmengeu1003]

Albania is an upcoming wine country, but you have to go there to drink/taste it. Sangiovese is one of my faves. It showcases terroir exceptionally well. Besides the classic Italian regions, I've had some pretty cool Sangiovese roses from Washington and Australia. Cheers, great video! Go Albania, 15 € is a steal. Damn!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Cheers! you know I am a Sangiovese nut!!!

[@solomonmengeu1003]

@@drmatthewhorkey From what I've read they also make a pretty mean Kadarka, but the creme de la creme seems to be their indigenous cultivars. Cheers!

[@cesarmacias3175]

Another excellent video. You have turned me on to Sangiovese. It's definitely one of my favorites now. Thank you

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Niccccee #teamsangio

[@LadyAceRoxy]

Haven’t yet been able to find any Albanian wine where I live, but always on the lookout!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It’s not easy to come by!

[@welshtoro3256]

"You can only get this in Albania where it's 15 euros." Brilliant review. People are selling a kidney to buy Left Bank Bordeaux when there is so much great wine in the world. I just finished a superb Rosso di Montalcino which costs £27. (Canalicchio di Sopra 2021 Rosso di Montalcino if you want to know.) Life is cheap in Albania but these guys are killing it with great value wine. I recently ate out at a modest local Turkish restaurant which offer corkage charges for wine. They do this because folk think their own wine must be low quality and it is when they offer a few European styles. However, their own Turkish bottle at £16 is very good stuff and far better than the opposition. Most Brits wont touch it because they think it's rubbish. I remember my Spanish wife and I visiting a wine shop 30 years ago and overhearing a couple of students trashing Spanish wine. They could only contemplate France or Italy. My wife was furious. Spanish wine is still considered good value but third rate by many. How must it be for producers in Albania and other Central and Eastern European countries? The wine world is still horrendously conservative. Not only that, it's an obnoxious status symbol too. I'm really glad that the good folk of Albania are drinking world class wine for 15 euros. The same for my Turkish friends. Even German, Austrian, Portuguese and Greek wine has a tough time busting through. Wine varies from rubbish to good to excellent. I get it. It should be for enjoying though and buying a really good wine should not cost a kidney. Good wine should be enjoyed by everybody. Cheers Albania. WT

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks WT, I love your comments as always. Yes there is GREAT wine being made all over the world nowadays... This Sunday is a Spanish wine video that has a SUPER value in it.

[@AHG1347]

I am all in on exploring untapped wine regions because there is so much to learn and enjoy tasting. Great wines that are easy on the wallet are always welcomed in my glass. What are your top 5 best valued, under the radar regions in your opinion?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Hard to narrow down. Germany is still value for Riesling and there are a lot of other videos on the channel about value regions like Jumilla

[@stroopwafel6141]

@@drmatthewhorkey Alentejo as well, I think. Perhaps Romania and Bulgaria (pinot noirs/syrah/cabernet). Great things are happening in Belgium, Netherlands and the UK, but those wines are usually no bargains.

[@welshtoro3256]

@@drmatthewhorkey Completely agree about Jumilla. Very good price/quality ratio. Lots of Spanish regions are great value but you have to do some research. Excellent stuff in Italy too, especially in the south and Islands, but you really need to find a good retailer for information.

[@AHG1347]

@@drmatthewhorkey Yes I have been on the Germany Riesling train for nearly 24 years, and thanks to you I have jumped on the Jumilla bandwagon as well.

[@wanderlust4080]

Very cool review. Been waiting for this for a while. What other wines from Albania would you recommend?

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I like the grape Kallmet and Shesh (both white and red)

[@johns2262]

I was in Tuscany last week - visited Chianti 🙂 -

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Nice!

[@simply417guy]

Hey Dr H 😉 big fan 👍🏼, when you were describing where Albania was, I was really hoping for a quick map of the region, maybe that’s something you can start adding to your videos ~ keep up the good work 👍🏼

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Thanks! It’a across the Adriatic from Puglia

[@미려도美麗島]

새로운 시도 흥미롭네요 좋은 영상 감사합니다.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

thank you!

[@JonBLodi]

Nice to see Albania doing well! Hey, what does your setup look like for your videos and especially what does your cellar collection look like? What do you actually drink for yourself on a day to day basis? Maybe it's time for a behind the scenes video, giving us that feeling that we get with Gary V when he has the camera swing around the room. Thanks for doing all of these!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Maybe for my 100k subs video we’ll see!

[@numanuma20]

You should write a book about Eastern Europe wine counties.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

I’m done writing books. I have one on Croatia and was working on Hungary but now only video

[@diegogodinhorocha9448]

What a tasting indeed!

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Yessir

[@joe-zp7ge]

what a bummer and what a tease.... rarely do you give"94" and for 15 euros thats a serious bargain. cant get alot of wines in the US like that.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

Point scored aren’t end all be all though! A lot depends on the company, the moment, and the food!

[@MichaelH-ck4hg]

I’ve watched many of your videos, but not all of them. I was wondering if you have tried wine from the country of Georgia? They have a long history of making wine and I’ve heard some are quite good. Since this video was about wine from Albania, which is why I’m asking. I didn’t know that they made wine too.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

MNy many times: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZCWfKWehJVko7csi=6sM3FETfYTo86rr3

[@MichaelH-ck4hg]

Thanks very much for sending me the link. I will certainly be watching it soon

[@red_sauce_477]

النبيذ حقا" انها تجربة لا توصف خاصة" مع اللحم و الخضار و الخبز الطازج.

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏

[@user-mb1hg4qu9f]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@drmatthewhorkey]

🙏🙏

[@Ruirspirul]

6000 years of supposed wine history is a bold claim with only handful of native verities😅wines sound amazing though, would love to try…

[@drmatthewhorkey]

It is a stellar wine!

[@yuritukuli5468]

White: Debinë, Cerujë, Shesh, Serin, Kallmet, Puls, Perla Red: Shesh, Kallmet, Serin, Debinë, Vlosh These are the handful I think you tried to explain (same name in Albanian doesnt necessarily mean a color mutation or a relation, but the village of provenance). For a country that has many pockets in different elevations of broken terrain there is quite a possibility of more findings. Not too mention that Illyrian tribes made many trades pre common era and cultivated grapes such as Vranc, Blatina etc. and could be related to others such as Mavrud (mostly on the southern part). As far as history goes these inhabited areas today part of Albania have been making wine and used wine trading routes around the same time as the greeks through ports of Lissus (Lezhë), Shkodra Lake, Durrës, or Vlorë and Saranda in the south. I know these is founding and artifacts wine related in the Museum of Durres dating about 4800 years ago. As we know viticulture and vinification spread East to west (with some distinctions such as Sardinia, Portugal, Etruria) thus to mention winegrowing around the same time as the greeks, in my opinion, seems legitimate knowing the trading routes and artifacts found. Matthew refers to Albania here as Eastern European country, though more accurate would be Southeastern European / Central Mediterranean (with Ionian Greece bordering Eastern Mediterranean). If we want to talk about diversity, Flora and perfect winegrowing conditions (I always think of similar to Campania) we can assume by simply looking at a map. The potential is there, it might take some time and experimentation. As far as discovering new winegrowing grapes, it simply needs proper research and DNA profiling (as well as a PROPER appellative system to regulate provenance) and for as much as they are trying to, they simply are not there yet. As far as soils (there is clearly a myriad of those dating back from a few thousand years ago to 200-250 million years), thus the pedigree for making exceptional wines are there.