Monday, July 23, 2007

Drinking Malice

During his recent visit to Sweden, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (pictured), was obliged to drink a cup of malice - both literally and in terms of Russian foreign policy. At a state dinner for the foreign ministers of the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS), the wine on the menu was Georgian. It seems that Lavrov took this opportunity to enjoy this world-renouned product, which is banned in Russia.

Skeptical? The story comes from the Swedish Foreign Minister himself, Carl Bildt, who wrote about it on his blog. The Swedish state wine monopoly, Systembolaget, recently introduced its first Georgian wine - a 2005 Teliani Valley Saperavi.

Special thanks to the keen eyes of Vilhelm Konnander for catching this story.