A trip to Albania with Oxfam

Following on from our ‘wine into water’ initiatives with Oxfam in the past, they recently asked a team from Laithwaites to visit the villages in Albania where they are working to get the inhabitants back on their feet by re-establishing their vineyards.

This region in the north-west was devoted to wine for hundreds, even thousands, of years. The Romans apparently took vines as well as wines from here, vines which may likely have ended up in Bordeaux or Burgundy. Albania lies on the ancient route to the west from Georgia, where wine is said to have its origins. But perhaps it is going too far to equate our Cabernet (which they spell Kabernet) with their current favourite red grape, Kallmet.

Anyway that's all ancient history. Fact is today Albania doesn't have a wine industry, really. The crazy Hoxha dictatorship nationalised agriculture and eventually more or less switched everything to cabbages, or at least to crops which were never going to make any decent money. What did survive was then smashed up in the years of riots and chaos when the regime fell in 1992.

So the poor village folk of Zadrima are having to start again, from scratch. And they have to succeed. They have nothing else. And, given that the Albanian government won’t help fund them, this is where Oxfam (and Laithwaites) step in.

We were taken round by Oxfam in one of their white landrovers; a wise precaution. Albanian roads are bad, Albanian drivers worse. Most cars are battered Mercs. Drivers of lighter cars have a slightly nervous look and pedestrians here seem remarkably fast and agile. Particularly the older ladies. In Zadrima they still wear national dress on a daily basis. Perhaps because it is voluminous, mostly white and highly visible.

But once you leave the main roads speed drops of necessity to 20 mph - and that's on the good bits of dirt road. After the rainstorms which, along with a small earthquake, greeted our arrival (following 4 months drought!), we could've been in Africa.

Everywhere, sometimes with human accompaniment, sometimes not, are donkeys, horses, dogs, sheep, cows, turkeys - lots of turkeys - chickens, pigs. Even wild tortoises (how they survive is some miracle).

The vineyards here are tiny and generally fight for space with subsistence crops of maize, fruit, veg, etc. The wineries are even smaller and have to make do with any containers they can lay hands on. I thought the Red Heads winery we helped set up in Australia was the lowest-cost winery ever. Well, Justin, mate, you're in luxury compared to what these guys have. The best things they have were given by Oxfam. Otherwise they scrounge old fruit containers, tubs, jars, barrels. They cheerfully admit they are 'amateur' winemakers.

That's why we are here. We’ve got something of a history of setting up wineries in unlikely places. Our garage in Bordeaux, for instance. We know that great wine doesn’t necessarily need a pristine laboratory or brand new stainless steel tanks. All you need is a bit of knowledge and plenty of enthusiasm. (And a smattering of luck doesn’t go amiss!) Our new Albanian friends are inspiringly courageous, cheerful, warm and spirited people. There’s no doubt they’ve got the know-how and the guts. All they need to help them succeed is a bit of friendly encouragement, a bit of new equipment. That’s where we come in.

We’re really excited about the potential here. The wines here aren’t ready for export just yet. But in a year or so’s time, we’re hopeful that you’ll get your very first taste of Albanian wine!

If we can commit to an Albanian project I don't think it will be because we think it might be a money-spinner. You never know but I doubt it. But if we can help give Anila, Simon and the team in Zadrima the satisfaction of achieving their dreams and creating exciting new wines and earning a decent, sustainable living for themselves … well, then, that’ll be worth it, won’t it?

Yes, the Wine Year is about to begin again. My 43rd. And as every year, a whole new, fresh chapter will open. It keeps you young.