I love wine, always have and always will. Whilst I can appreciate a good wine, I will and have drunk pretty much anything without much thought for things such as bouquet, undertones, or body. After living in Albania for six months, I have drunk my fair share of local wine- from potent homemade varieties to pricey bottles in high-end restaurants, and I must say I do really like it. I am a particular fan of Albanian reds as I find they have a distinct flavour- strong, sweet, and full-bodied- that I haven’t yet found in any other country. Wanting to expand my knowledge of local wines, as well as sample some of the best, I got in touch with Dashamir Elezi from Class Wines Albania to find out more.
Dashamir Elezi is a wine lover, wine expert, a sommelier, and the founder of the Albanian Sommelier Association which has over 130 members throughout the country. He studied his trade in Italy, returning to Albania in 2002 and set up the association in 2005, and opened the Class Wines shop in Tirana 18 months ago. He believes that Albania and its some 130 wineries, including around 30 commercial producers has something pretty special to offer the international wine world. In fact, as of next month, a container of Albanian wine will set sail for Texas, USA and will bring the truly unique taste of Albanian vineyards to an international audience.
He tells me that the world is full of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and chianti, and it is time for wine drinkers to expand their palettes and try something different. Albania is home to several varieties of grape that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, and this combined with the countries unique microclimate and the artisanal approach to creating wine, means that whilst Albanian wine is not perfect, it has something special to offer.
Dashamir’s passion began at an early age- at 11 years old he began distilling raki and experimenting with making wine using grapes from his uncles’ vineyard. Then at the age of 14, he drank Vermillion Grand Cru for the first time and it was at that moment that his love affair really began. He attended sommelier school in Italy and graduated after studying the art for three years. Since then he has judged numerous sommelier competitions as well as teaching countless people about the science and technicalities behind good wine. Dashamir speaks proudly of his achievements, but in particular, his face lights up when he shows me a letter sent to him by the Pope, thanking him for the fine selection of wines that he chose for the Popes visit to Albania in 2014.
He really knows his wine and when I ask him about his favourites, he reels off a long list including Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, Bordeaux, Malbec, and Medoza. He loves Chilean wine (Colcuaga Valley) and some Italian (Toscana and Piemonte), but most of all he loves Albanian wine. In fact, his shop, located not far from Sheshi Wilson is the only one to stock over 20 different varieties of locally produced Albanian wines.
The shop itself is split into three areas- a small dining room for wine tasting, eating, and events, a bar area with another table, and the main shop floor. Cool, quiet, and with impeccably tasteful decoration, it is a pleasant place to peruse the aisles looking for a beautiful bottle of wine. The selection is quite incredible- fine Italian Proseccos, French Champagne, Chilean Whites, Australian Reds, and of course a whole section dedicated to the best wine, raki, and brandy in Albania.
After discussing his life and work, I asked him what his top Albanian wines were. Reeling off a long list, I asked if he had to choose just one to drink for the rest of his life, which would it be, and his answer was:
“That is like asking a father to choose between all of his children- it is impossible to choose just one”.
We then spent over an hour tasting his selection, but this is the subject of my next blog post! Safe to say, I left Class Wines a very happy lady. If you are living in Albania, or even just visiting, I implore you not to just go for the safe Italian option, or the cliche French- opt for a local wine and I promise that you will be pleasantly surprised.
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