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Borys Kosarev: Modernist Kharkiv, 1915-1931 at The Ukrainian Museum thru May 2, 2012
Posted by hanya on May 17, 2000 at 23:22:21:
An informal wine-tasting contest is held every June at Charles University, Prague. It's a perfect way to commemorate the end of yet another grueling semester for the graduate students in the CERGE-EI (the Economics Institute). The students enrolled in the program come from all parts of the world and each is required (I'm joking of course) to bring a sample bottle of wine from their respective country to participate in the annual contest. In fact, the contest has become a tradition at Charles that students and faculty alike look forward to with great enthusiasm.
The contest was the brain child of Prof. Orley Ashenfelter, respected Princeton economist, and Prof. Randy Filer (Princeton), currently with the City University of New York, and one of the directors of the program at Charles U. Several years ago, 1995 to be exact, I worked on a project at Charles and did a little recruiting of students from Ukraine for the program while I was there. Randy, his wife Barbara and I took a trip to Ukraine (see http://www.brama.com/travel/filer.html to read a short story about our experiences during that trip) in search of students and, while we were there, hunted high and low for that bottle of "fine Ukrainian wine" to be entered in the June contest.
At a small Georgian restaurant in Kyiv, we were treated to an excellent bottle of Crimean white wine. But our efforts afterwards to find another bottle of Crimean to take back with us from Ukraine were unsuccessful. It wasn't until we arrived in Uzhhorod on the return trip to Prague (via Slovakia) that we found any wine at all available for sale. The local bazaar didn't offer much of a selection, so we settled on a bottle of Zakarpatske red wine. In fact, Zakarpattia is known for it's vineyards too, so, despite the rather suspicious looking bottle, I had high hopes that it would meet a reasonable level of quality. We carefully wrapped our treasure in towels and stored it deep in one of our bags for safety.
It didn't have much time to age because the contest date was a just around the corner. By the time the big day arrived, the entries included almost every country in Europe, plus a few beyond the continent. The bottles were all concealed to protect the identities, and all the wines tasted and rated accordingly by each of the students (all act as judges).
It was truly sad to watch the faces made with every sip taken from the Ukrainian bottle. It "won", needless(?) to say, the last place on the list. In fact, it was suggested that it be taken off the list completely. I was devastated. My pride shattered. And I have not recovered from that loss since.
Not having had an opporunity to return and prove to Ashenfelter and company that there really is such a thing as "fine Ukrainian wine," I appeal to this year's Ukrainian students at Charles U., or anyone in Prague who has the opportunity - PLEASE try and find a good bottle of Crimean wine in time for the June 2000 contest. Enter it on my behalf and on behalf of all Ukraine!