Saturday 28 December 2013

Getting into a State!


At a recent conference I was reminded how new-comers and even experienced global shippers can be blinded by assumptions that they don’t even realise they are making.

In this case it became clear that some people believed that a Country has only one set of laws no matter which port or airport you choose to #import to or #export from.    Whilst this is true in some countries it is certainly not true in others.  Take the USA for instance – there is Federal law and then there is State legislation.   Taxes differ between States which can wreck your costings.   Some goods can be imported into New York but are forbidden in Los Angeles – you will come to understand this as they are confiscated and destroyed at your expense!!!   It is not just the USA that has these differences – do you know if this applies to the countries you work with…..????

Contract Terms


The International Chamber of Commerce INCOterms 2010 have now been in use for some time.  However modern international trade still throws up many questions and issues.  Part of the problem is the interaction between #INCOterms, the sales contract and the freight contract.

This is still true even if you think you don’t have all or indeed any of these for your transaction.   Contracts can conflict with one another and even if you don’t have a written contract you do have one based on the standard trading terms and conditions of the companies you are working with e.g. BIFA terms for freight agents.  Which contract or set of conditions takes precedence?   Are they covered by different legal jurisdictions?   To avoid unwelcome complications and costly headaches check, compare and resolve these.  

Wednesday 11 December 2013

Spot the difference!

My professional hobby is teaching #piano and #viola playing to pupils of all ages.   However on this occasion I can combine my two professions!   Take a look at the two links below and consider the #customs #classification position:
 



Consider – a musical instrument is by definition meant to be played and most importantly should be capable of being played.   

What do you think?    Take a second look at the first link – the #violin bow has also been bejewelled – that might well render it unusable.   So is the bow and violin a ‘set’ in customs terms or are they separate?   Is one an artwork (zero duty reduced VAT)?

Customs work is fun isn’t it?!?



www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Thursday 28 November 2013

Do you understand?

For those who think export licensing only covers arms and ammunition – you need to broaden your horizons.  The laws have been widened.   For example offering to translate or provide a translation of a technical manual could be covered by export licensing laws even if this is done by email or over the internet.    It needn’t be as obvious as translating a ‘How to make a better bomb’ manual it could be something as simple as translating a technical manual for an obscure device.   It is not just the subject of the translation but the country and individual for whom you are making the translation.
 

Don’t get caught out!



www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Caviar and orchids


It seems Christmas is the time of year for CITES violations to come to light.  It is now the turn of caviar some of which is covered by the CITES convention.   However, it was not discovered ready to eat – it was found in face cream!   

And the rare orchid?   No, not for exotic flower arranging but an ingredient in bodybuilding supplements. 

 All intercepted and seized by HMRC (UK Customs) on the way into the UK.
 
 
 
 

Friday 15 November 2013

Christmas conundrum

The festive season is almost upon us but of course for retailers it has been in full swing for some time as they bring in their stock ready for the Christmas rush.

It brings with it some rather tricky challenges.   In the UK one of the iconic Christmas items is a Christmas cracker.    A creation of paper, cardboard and ribbon containing a paper hat, a joke and some kind of small gift.   There are two major problems with this.   

The first is that a cracker is also a type of savoury biscuit.   When sending these items to the USA, the American customs authorities wanted to know the ingredients………..

Then of course, there is the chief issue – the crackers also contain what is called a ‘snap’.  This is so that when they are ‘pulled’ – the centre containing the gift comes apart with a bang.   The snap is a strip of cardboard with a small amount of explosive (yes explosive!!) on the middle.      

These are shipped all over the world by airfreight as IATA have designated them acceptable for airfreight so long as they are packed appropriately.   But beware some courier companies still regard them as hazardous and if they will accept them at all they restrict the quantity to about six crackers at a time.

So not only is the name a problem all over the world but you are shipping explosives too!

Happy shipping.



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Forbidden cargo


I note today that the US Government has just crushed around six tons of ivory (tusks, jewellery etc.) that it confiscated at ports and airports in the USA as people tried and thankfully failed to make illegal imports.   Ivory is on the Annex A list of products / raw materials under the CITES convention – forbidden to ship.   The American Government feels that destroying the confiscated ivory – putting it beyond use – is the best way to deter the smugglers and poachers.   Other countries are holding large stockpiles of confiscated ivory with mixed views on what is best to do with it.    

 
The rules on the international movement of ivory are very strict, even as personal possessions so take care if you want to keep your possessions.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Details, details...


The Devil’s in the Details is an infamous phrase but very true in international trade.   For example how similar are the letters TT and TH written in a careless hand and casually typed without thought.   And all of a sudden the goods are sent to Trinidad and Tobago rather than Thailand.   Or as was reported today a lady found herself on a flight to Grenada rather than Granada – just the one letter different but oh so far apart.

 

Write, type and check to avoid a skirmish with the Devil….


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Saturday 26 October 2013

Hoppy Happy?


So the Australian Kangaroos beat England today in the rugby – shame!     But this is not the only thing Kangaroos are good for – did you know that their skin can be used for shoes and clothing?

Did you also know that there are lots of different species of Kangaroo?  Therein lies the problem – some of those species of Kangaroo are endangered and are therefore subject to CITES controls.   Worse still some places reject the use of Kangaroo skin of any species and therefore none can be imported or sold there.

 So if you want a bit of bounce in your footwear perhaps you should try springs!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Thursday 24 October 2013

Giddy-up


Some of the hardest things to transport are items that are meant to move in ordinary use but can’t be allowed to move in transport.

Rocking horses are a case in point.   I mean the sort that have large semi-circular rockers with loose tack, flowing tails and manes.  

It can cost much more than people think by the time you pad out the rockers to prevent movement, protect the tail and mane with suitable wrapping and stop the loose tack moving and scratching anything else.

But the best bit is arranging delivery to a home as a surprise Christmas present even though it meant employing drivers and their helpers capable and willing to sneak in to premises late at night (with the owner’s permission of course!), break open the crate (without making a sound), unpack the rocking horse in silence, clear away every trace of packing materials and quietly drive away.  

The photo of the happy family is all the thanks needed!   

 
 
 

Saturday 19 October 2013

Tea anyone?


As a nation of tea drinkers the British tend to take teacups and saucers for granted.   But there are many regulations to be taken note of before tableware can be shipped around the world.  One of the many rules concerns the composition of the paint used to decorate the items.   Some paints contain lead for example.  

The problem?  

Different countries have different opinions on how much of what is acceptable so manufacturers have to manage to meet them all or limit the distribution of their product.

Sales of tea sets tend to be somewhat reduced if you are forced to label them ‘not for food use’

Sugar anyone?


www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Thursday 17 October 2013

Security

The news this week that the Port of Antwerp had its IT system compromised so that container loads of drugs could pass through undetected  is not something any of us can afford to ignore.  Security in the supply chain is increasingly important and it is often forgotten that this applies to IT systems as well as physical systems. Regimes such as the EU AEO and US CT-PAT focus on security.  A serious breach could prevent a company from attaining these Authorisations or cause it to have them suspended or withdrawn all together.

Take care!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Wool Week


Apparently this is wool week in the UK.  This reminded me that no so long ago wool was one of the weapons in a trans-Atlantic trade war.    In a tit-for-tat battle of punitive import duty rates the USA imposed additional import duty on imports of British wool although the dispute at the route of the problem had nothing to do with wool.
 

A product of woolly thinking in my opinion.  


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Temporary tizzy!

The temporary movement of goods is a complex topic, even within the EU. 

Ask your colleagues what the EU means to them and you will get some interesting and diverse answers – booze cruises, toll roads, centralised legislation, the Euro?

Some people will tell you goods and people can move freely between the Member States. In some ways they are all correct but in others they are very misguided.  

For example how many companies know that they are supposed to keep a register of all temporary goods movements between EU countries?   The definition of temporary – under 2 years.  

Got your’s handy for the next audit? 


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Monday 14 October 2013

Super Speed Broom

When teaching the piano I like to keep some topical pieces and so this week I started my pupils on a piece called ‘Witch on a Super Speed Broom’ by Martha Mier.   What fun!  Witches generally ride on besom brooms.  Of course such a description does not appear in the customs tariff.   All you get is a plain description ‘Brooms and brushes, consisting of twigs or other vegetable materials bound together, with or without handles’  Chapter 960310.

 
No fun at all!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Sunday 13 October 2013

Cold?

A true tale with an unhappy ending (and no I was not responsible!).   Seafreight is not the fastest method of transport but it is cost effective for large quantities of product.  The collections by 40ft container was arranged, the space on the ship booked, documents prepared.   The container was duly loaded with product and off it sailed, destination the Middle East.    All was well.    

The container arrived, cleared customs and was delivered to the factory.   Still all OK.

Then they opened the container………   and the product flowed out like a weird waterfall.

The poor people unloading it were covered in it, the factory floor knee deep, the forklift truck in need of serious maintenance.

 
The problem – someone forgot that butter needs refrigeration!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Thursday 10 October 2013

Teatime

I’m running a public tariff classification training course in a couple of weeks’ time (see website) and whilst adding the finishing touches to the examples (I like to keep things topical) my sister presented me with a home-made chocolate cornflake cake.    My mind immediately turned to how to classify such an item.   What were the ingredients and in what proportion?  Although called a ‘cake’ it isn’t really a cake.  Chapter 19 prepared foodstuffs is the logical choice but should it be 1904 cornflakes or 1905 bread, pastry, cakes and biscuits whether or not containing chocolate?     A quick review of the GIRs would lead me to suggest 1905 as the highest tariff code should be chosen. 


 Too late ! – It is not going anywhere it was delicious….
 
 
 
 

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Global procurement

Once again global procurement has hit the headlines as yet another fire in a clothing factory in Bangladesh claims the lives of workers.  The media make much of so called ‘Western’ companies buying cheap and thus apparently endangering the lives of workers.   In my view it’s not the global buying model that is broken but the lack of care and on-going attention given by the buyers to the status and functioning of the company from which they are going to buy.   

No brand does well out of media stories that it buys cheap clothes at the expense of peoples’ lives.   Written assurances are one thing but nothing beats unscheduled site visits for getting at the truth of the situation.

Is it really true that ‘Western’ buyers or the companies that they work for are so into penny pinching that they will not fund proper global procurement and prefer to take the risk that the next disaster will not implicate their brand?



www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Sunday 6 October 2013

Don’t forget your intangibles!

Sounds like something you shouldn’t forget to take on holiday with you doesn’t it?

But no this is a very serious issue for exporters.

As a general idea think of intangibles as things you can’t touch.  Not because they are dangerous like nuclear waste but because they do not have a physical form for example an electronic file of software.   

Such things are still products and may still need export licences when ‘sent’ abroad by electronic means.

Perhaps they should be renamed the untouchables!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Saturday 5 October 2013

Size matters


When exporting mirrors to the USA size matters!  

Not only must you describe the mirror and how it is framed, the material of the frame and the backing of the mirror and of course the value, but you also need the diameter of the actual mirror rather than the overall dimensions – in inches of course.


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Friday 4 October 2013

Life’s a bowl of cherries

Baking cakes for the local Harvest Festival Fayre today I wondered about the import of glace cherries.  A quick look in the tariff revealed that Chapter 200860 was the right place to go but there were 14 tariff codes!   Information was needed on sugar content, spirit content, quantity, diameter and whether or not they were to be used in chocolate!

 
Mine just topped iced cupcakes.
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday 3 October 2013

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Qatar has been in the news recently due to concerns about the summer heat not mixing well with football.   But Qatar isn’t the only place in the world that has very hot weather and it is not only footballers and their supporters that suffer in the heat.

People forget that cargo often has to be moved about in a port or airport and that it can sometimes be left outside for hours at a time with no concern for the midday sun.   
 
Metal can become pliable and will bend if sufficiently heated – I once had to ‘rescue’ a pallet of small satellite dishes from an African airport where the cargo had warped beyond any kind of usefulness.

 What do you do to protect your cargo from the weather?


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Lost

I was working with some documents the other day which showed how misleading supposedly clear information can be.   The document was typed, clear and apparently complete and yet….     When I came to see where the shipment might be coming from I looked at the sender’s address and there was the address ending tantalisingly with Halifax.   But Halifax where?

Halifax West Yorkshire UK

Halifax Nova Scotia Canada

Halifax Virginia USA

Halifax Massachusetts USA

Halifax Queensland Australia

 
No clue – I’m sure the writer knew but such a shame they forgot that someone else might need to know?


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Friday 27 September 2013

Lateral thinking

Many Countries' tariff listings are now on-line which is very helpful.  Even better many of them have search fields so that you can simply put in the name of a product.  What could be more straightforward?   All is not as simple as it seems. 

Just try putting ‘teddy bear’ into the search field.   Do you get a code for that loveable furry friendly soft toy?  No! You get all sorts of headings for ball bearings.  

This illustrates the difficulty in using product descriptions in such search engines.

What do you need to type in if you want the code for that loveable teddy bear?

Toys representing animals or non-human creatures – stuffed!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Thursday 26 September 2013

Been Dumped Lately?

Did you know that finding the right tariff classification and therefore finding the current duty rate is not always the end of the story?   

Some products are subject to anti-dumping duty (ADD) as well.   This can more than double the basic import duty.   This does not apply only to luxury goods, products as simple as ironing boards can qualify and ADD can be implemented almost overnight.   It pays to keep up with the latest news.   

You have been warned!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Wednesday 25 September 2013

The one and only

Some manufacturers and retailers make arrangements with dealers to be the sole agent or distributor for their goods in a particular country or state.  These arrangements may not be publicised internationally but are often legally binding. They can be commercially enforced and in some countries are enforced by the Customs Authorities at the place of importation. 

The first you may hear about this is when your imported goods are detained in Customs or when they go on sale in the country and the sole agent makes a fuss to the manufacturer or retailer.  Something that can be a minor upset or a major marketing and PR disaster.

If you are a reseller take care to look into this before you commit yourself.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Precious Treasure

Many people will be familiar with the export licensing of electronics, technology and weapons but this week a different kind of export licensing achieved its purpose.

The export licensing of cultural goods in the UK follows a different process to ‘normal’ export licensing but is just as rigorous.  It does though involve a rather different approach for items sold for export.   A process which I have had cause to understand in detail during my career!
 
This process was demonstrated with the gold and turquoise ring that once belonged to author Jane Austin and was recently purchased by singer Kelly Clarkson.

Under the export licensing rules Kelly Clarkson was stopped from taking the ring out of the UK by a temporary export ban.  The ban was put in place to allow interested parties in the UK to raise the money to buy the ring and thus keep in the UK what was considered an important piece of UK heritage. In this case the Jane Austen’s House Museum managed, by public donation and within the strict time limit, to raise the money needed to purchase the ring and it is now theirs to keep.

The export licensing of cultural goods can apply to any object of almost any age if it is judged to be of sufficient national interest – buyer beware!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Monday 23 September 2013

Upgrade anyone?

Electronics are often the source of difficulty in international trade but aside from the obvious issues one that is often ‘forgotten’ is the problem that upgrades can bring.   

Having gone to enormous trouble to obtain a tariff classification and export licence for the original item, product development and customer feedback will often lead to the development of a new, improved version.
 
However, what appear to be improvements or extensions to existing functionality can in Customs terms change the classification and the export licence class of the product.  This can mean a change to the tariff code and an invalidation of the export licence.

The result?
An inability to export any of the product until a new export licence is obtained 
An increase in import duty and VAT
Delayed product launches
Unhappy customers

The solution?  Teamwork!


www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Sunday 22 September 2013

Cooking up chaos!

I watched a cookery program today which just brought home to me how easy it is to bring chaos to the supply chain.  The chef was using ‘banana shallots’ and ‘egg plant’.    What fun that would be on a shipping invoice particularly in the hands of someone for whom English is not their first language!

Of course ‘banana’ refers to the shape of the shallot – not some genetically modified weird vegetable and ‘egg plants’ are otherwise known as aubergines.

Sometimes it is really important to look carefully at what you write and how others might interpret it.

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Saturday 21 September 2013

Rubies are red


Progressively over the last year most of the sanctions imposed on the movement of goods to and from Burma (Myanmar) have been removed.  But one that remains is in USA legislation that prohibits the import of rubies and jadeite from Burma unless they are personal effects or they had previously been imported to USA before the sanctions were enacted.   

This sanction causes consternation as many people in the jewellery trade have a vague idea that ‘things’ from Burma are forbidden in the USA.   For example Burmese sapphires are not subject to the sanctions whereas Burmese rubies are.  

Don’t look for logic just go read the rules or ask a specialist!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Friday 20 September 2013

Country confusion


Almost all shipping documents mention the countries of origin and destination (I say almost all because I have seen shipping invoices with complicated addresses that somehow missed off the country altogether!).   

Most adults would tell you that the country of origin was where the goods came from and the country of destination was where they were going to.   

Ask some school children where things come from and they will tell you the name of the local supermarket!

Ask a procurement person and they will probably tell you the origin was the country from which they bought the goods.  

But in the world of Customs, origin means the country where the goods were actually made and in today’s global market that does not necessarily mean the place they were bought nor does it mean the place where they were shipped from.  Documentation does not always make this clear.  Of course items that were assembled in several different countries bring their own special issues!

Why does it matter?

Some ‘origins’ can confer a significant discount in import duty and tax if certain criteria are met.

So next time you glance at a document and copy down the ‘origin’ of the goods you might pause to wonder if you are wasting an opportunity to save money.

www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Thursday 19 September 2013

Rewards for some

I once had a consignment of ‘tombstones’ to import.

Now these caused trouble on many levels – was there a religious element, had someone died?

Made of marble, big and heavy but they were with a courier company?  Something did not add up.

A lot of phone calls and emails later I had some answers.

They were being imported for a party – in fact a rewards ceremony. Further investigation revealed that these tombstones were not made of marble but of plastic and were only 6cms tall. The names on the tombstones were actually the names of winners of a scheme intended to celebrate exceptional employees.

In international trade you learn something new every day!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Are you related?


The price of goods listed on shipping documents is used to assess duties and taxes.  Commercially the first thought between related companies would be that goods should be transferred between them at discounted or net prices.  This is not however, the view of customs authorities.   The rule is that prices must be at ‘arm’s length’.  This means that the price of goods listed on the shipping documents for customs purposes must be the same as if the transaction was between companies that have no relationship at all.

There are of course detailed rules about how the price must be calculated and what can and cannot be left out of the price for customs purposes.   The more global trade becomes the more likely it is that companies are related in some way so take care with your relations!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Tuesday 17 September 2013

A simple mushroom?


Not much to discuss here from a customs point of view? 
In the EU tariff mushrooms are classified under:
06 Live trees and other plants; bulbs, roots and the like; cut flowers and ornamental foliage
02 Other live plants (including their roots), cuttings and slips; mushroom spawn
07 Edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers
09 Other vegetables, fresh or chilled
Mushrooms and truffles
Mushrooms
Flap mushrooms
Cultivated mushrooms
10 Vegetables (uncooked or cooked by steaming or boiling in water), frozen
Mushrooms
11 Vegetables provisionally preserved (for example, by sulphur dioxide gas, in brine, in sulphur water or in other preservative solutions), but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption
Mushrooms of the genus Agaricus
Mushrooms
Mushrooms, excluding mushrooms of the genera Agaricus, Calocybe, Clitocybe, Lepista, Leucoagaricus, Leucopaxillus, Lyophyllum and Tricholoma, provisionally preserved in brine, in sulphur water, or in other preservative solutions, but unsuitable in that state for immediate consumption, for the food-canning industry
Mushrooms and truffles
12 Dried vegetables, whole, cut, sliced, broken or in powder, but not further prepared
Mushrooms, dried, whole or in identifiable slices or pieces, for treatment other than simple repacking for retail sale
Mushrooms, wood ears (Auricularia spp.), jelly fungi (Tremella spp.) and truffles
Mushrooms of the genus Agaricus
20 Preparations of vegetables, fruit, nuts or other parts of plants
01 Vegetables, fruit, nuts and other edible parts of plants, prepared or preserved by vinegar or acetic acid
Mushrooms
03 Mushrooms and truffles, prepared or preserved otherwise than by vinegar or acetic acid
Mushrooms
Of course you need to take care not to be confused – 0722 04 wine in bottles with ‘mushroom’ stoppers…..

www.morley-consulting.co.uk
 

Monday 16 September 2013

Artistic Touch


I learned something new today.  Henri Julien Félix Rousseau  (1844 – 1910) the French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive style was also known as Le Douanier (the customs officer) because of his job before he retired at the age of 49 and took to painting full time.  Whilst employed by the Government he collected taxes on goods entering Paris.
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Friday 13 September 2013

Juice anyone?


Just walk into any large supermarket in the UK and you will see rows of different cartons and bottles of a variety of fruit juices.   Now how many of you would suppose that for example all cartons or bottles of orange juice are equal in customs terms?   Juice is juice right?
Wrong!   Next time you pick up a fruit juice give a thought to customs tariff classification.  Actual composition is everything and no that doesn’t just mean percentage of actual fruit juice.
Some cartons of ‘juice’ are actually classified as flavoured water!

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Thursday 12 September 2013

Can you blame them?

I recently came across this excellent description of goods on a shipping invoice: -

‘Ivory 2 meters’

That’s it, that’s all it said – no tariff code, no anything.  
How could anyone be surprised that Customs were interested to find out if they were shipping elephant ivory in contravention of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species  (CITES).    Needless to say the goods stuck in customs and the only one surprised was the shipper.

What was actually being shipped?    2 meters of Ivory coloured cotton fabric.

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Freeports?

Today I was asked a very good question – is a Freeport free?  The answer is yes and no.
Freeports are areas where special customs rules apply.
Generally goods may be held in a Freeport without the payment of import duty or tax such as VAT.  This is the only respect in which they are free.

The companies within the Freeport will charge for storage, processing and documentation.  So no they are not ‘free’.
Equally they are not free of rules or regulations and these rules and regulations can be very different in different Freeports and amongst other things they govern how goods can be removed from the Freeport, what can happen to them while they are there, and what duties and taxes will be levied if they are eventually imported into the host country.

Free ports in Switzerland are said to house some of the biggest art collections in the world.   Stored without import duty or tax until a collector, having viewed the item in storage, chooses to buy and import it. 

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Tuesday 10 September 2013

U Who?

Ahead of tonight's football match between England and Ukraine lets just get the countries sorted out.

The Customs Country Code for Ukraine is not UK.
UK is short for United Kingdom of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
But the Customs Code for the UK is GB.
The Customs Code for Ukraine is UA.
UA is not the Code for the United Arab Emirates.
The Code for the UAE is AE.

Got that?!

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Saturday 7 September 2013

Bejewelled

During my piano lessons this morning (yes I teach piano as well as import / export) it occurred to me to wonder how many of my shipping friends would appreciate the challenge of providing a tariff classification for a functional grand piano that is also a million dollar work of art and contains a player system and electronics.

Take a look at this link to see what I mean ..New York Serenade piano

www.morley-consulting.co.uk

Friday 6 September 2013

A Hangover for Moldovans?

The people of Moldova may be drowning their sorrows at losing to England tonight in an unwelcome wine lake!  Russia is apparently blocking imports of their wine to dissuade them from forming closer trade ties to the EU.

Did you know that wine was Moldova's biggest export and Russia it's largest customer? Have you ever tried Moldovan wine - what was it like?

www.morley-consulting.co.uk