Joseph Stalin drank the semi-sweet Georgian red Khvanchkara. Fidel Castro developed an unexpected enthusiasm for Chablis. Nicolae Ceaușescu’s preference for the obscure Romanian wine Zghihară de Huși reportedly helped determine what the communist state planted. Josip Broz Tito produced his own presidential wines. Mobutu Sese Seko accumulated an extraordinary wine cellar and sought out bottles from his birth year. And Kim Jong-il’s taste for luxury included imported Bordeaux and Burgundy.
In this episode of The Wine Lab, we explore the wines associated with six authoritarian leaders, and what their drinking habits reveal about wine, history, culture, wealth and political power.
Along the way, we explore Georgian wine and Khvanchkara, Chablis and Chardonnay, Romanian indigenous grape varieties, Bordeaux and Burgundy, vintage Port, wine aging and the fascinating relationship between wine and politics.
We also separate documented history from some of the myths surrounding famous dictators and their supposed favorite wines.
Because appreciating great wine doesn’t necessarily make someone refined and it most certainly doesn’t make them good.
Wine can tell us about taste, geography, nostalgia, wealth and power.
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