Russia's ban on Moldovan wine 'unfounded'

Russia has been accused of playing politics after re-imposing a ban on imports of all Moldovan wine and brandy.

Russia’s government announced the latest ban this week, after its public health chief, Gennady Onishchenko, cited impurities in Moldovan wine and blamed the country’s failure to improve quality.

‘There are no quality problems with Moldovan wines and these are unfounded allegations,’ said Gheorghe Arpentin, head of the Union of Oenologists in Moldova.

Sources in Moldova claim the ban is based on alleged findings of excessive levels of dibutyl phthalate in wine and brandy from three producers (a common plasticiser, with legal limits only in place for water), though no evidence has been presented by Russia. Tests in Moldova show no excess levels, decanter.com understands.

Moldova’s Prime Minister, lurie Leancă, has called the decision ‘regrettable and unjustified’, and promised the government ‘will do everything possible to resolve the situation’.

Around 30% of Moldova’s wine exports, or 32m litres, are sent to Russia in normal circumstances.

Philip Quick, a former winemaker turned English teacher in the country, said, ‘so many people already lost their jobs. This could be the deathblow.’

Written by Caroline Gilby MW

Caroline Gilby MW is a freelance writer and consultant, specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. Among others, she currently contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, The Oxford Companion to Wine, and the World Atlas of Wine, and has previously written for Dorling Kindersley’s Wines of the World, The Wine Opus, and Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report. Prior to her career as a writer, Gilby spent seven years as a senior wine buyer at Augustus Barnet off-licences, where she became the first major buyer to import Hungarian wines to the UK. She initially studied plant biology, in which she holds a doctorate, but abandoned life behind the microscope for a career in wine soon after winning the Decanter-Macallan Malt Whisky Taster of the Year Award while still a student. Gilby passed her MW in 1992 and has been visiting and tasting the wines of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania for over 20 years.