Romanian Wine - The Best place for wines from Romania

Thousands of years ago, in the regions that now form the Romanian territory, grape vine used to grow naturally and savage. The main grape vine species from Romania is called Vitis Silvestris and used to grow in the oak forests in the Carpathian regions. This species is considered to have settled the grounds for the famous Dacian grape vine.

In year 1925, Gustave Glotz, one of the greatest historians concluded in his history volume, Civilization Egeenne that the prehistoric populations discovered the wine long before Dionysus’ era has been consecrated. This fact is also mentioned in Homer’s famous Iliad; the poem says that the Greek warriors went to the Thracian land in order to look for the wine.  Later on, the great Latin poet Ovidiu describes in one of his poems the way that the Dacians used to practice the viniculture and how they used to straighten the wine trough freezing procedures, resulting what we nowadays call cognac.

When Burebista was ruling the Dacian land, the vine grapes were so numerous that the wine was considered damaging to the morality of the people. A great priest of those times names Deceneu convinced the monarch to demand the burning of the vine grapes. A century later, when Traian’s Legions freight in Dacia, they were to discover a flourishing viticulture.

The Romanian wine was always in great demand all over the world. The Moldavian Romanian wine was exported in Taringrad, Warsaw and Vienna and the Muntenian Romanian wine was exported in Turkey and Egypt. Napoleon himself, while he was the emperor of France declared he prefers the Cotnari Romanian wine instead of other French wines.

The Moldavian vine grapes are spread over 223 acres; this surface equals with one third of Romania’s entire viticulture surface. Starting from the northern part of the province and up to the southern part there are vine grapes spread all over the territory.

Starting with Iasi County we have the Cotnari vineyard, the Iasi vineyard together with its viticulture centres Copou, Bucuim, Uricani and Comama. In Vaslui County you can find the Husi vineyards and its viticulture centres from Bohotin, Averesti, Husi, Vutcani and Murgeni.

In Bacau County there are the Zeletin vineyards and the wine centres from Tanasoaia, Gohor and Dealul Morii. In the south- eastern part of the province we have a large viticulture area in Galati County; here there are four important vineyards: Dealul Bujorului vineyard with viticulture centres in Bujoru, Smulti, Oancea and Beresti; the Nicoresti vineyard with its viticulture centre from Nicoresti and Bucuiumeni; the Ivesti vineyard and the viticulture centre from Ivesti, Tecuci and Corod; and the Covurlui vineyard and its viticulture centres in Baleni, Santeiesti, Pechea and Smardan. Some of the most famous wines come from the south western part of Moldavia region, from the Vrancea vineyards. Here we have the famous vineyards from Panciu, Odobesti and Cotesti, all of them big names in the wine industry.

The Romanian wine grapes from Muntenia and Oltenia regions are spread on a surface of 257 acres, starting from the hills and going down up to the fields and also on the sandy grounds from the southern parts of the Oltenian regions. Starting from the eastern of Muntenia region we have the Dealurile Buzaului vineyard with its viticulture centres from Ramnicu Sarat, Cenatesti and Zarnesti and followed by the large vineyard of Dealul Mare and its famous centres at Tohani, Pietrosa, Cricov, Valea Calugareasca, Ceptura and Boldesti. Moving forward to the western part of the region we have the Stefanesti-Arges vineyard and its viticulture centres from Stefanesti, Topolovei and Valea Mare. 

Since we spoke about this area we must not forget to mention the grape vines located on the sandy territories next to the Danube’s bank. These areas are in the southern part of Oltenia region and are very well know due to the famous vineyards from Sadova-Corabia, Calafat and the so called Dacian vineyard.

These two areas have the great advantage of proper climate and fertile soil, the two imperious elements in order to obtain excellent wine production. Extra hot weather and extra light compared to the Romanian vineyards from Moldavia and Transylvania turn this region into the main region in Romania producing red Romanian wine that is colourful and stout and also superior quality Romanian white whine named after those areas.

Transylvanian Romanian wine is better known for its quality and fine taste rather than for its spreading. The grape vines from this territory are spread on 35 acres only but their taste is famous all over the world. The Transylvanian Romanian wine is known to have a special shade and a noble original taste. Transylvanian soil seems as if it is specially made for grape vine production, lots of hills and rivers are waiting for more noble vineyards to be cultivated.

Until not so long ago, most houses from the Transylvanian region had their own grape vine crops in their back yard. You can no longer see so many of them nowadays but still some of the people living there kept the tradition alive and teach their children and grandsons how to make true house-made Romanian wine.

The main vineyard from Transylvania is Tarnavelor with its famous Romanian wine production of Jidvei, Blaj, Medias and Tanaveni. The other vineyards are Alba vineyard, Sebes-Apold vineyard and Aiud vineyard. All the Romanian wines coming from this region are excellent rated on the European market. Although there are not so many vineyards in Transylvania, the wines made here are highly quoted and appreciated all over the world.

The Romanian wines from the western side of the country are the most diverse of all. This region has vineyards spread on 202 miles starting from the Danube bank and up to the northern borders. Although there are 42 acres of grape vines cultures, there is still the possibility of enlarging them.

The Romanian wines from this area are made after high standards and are extremely diverse due to the diversity of the soil and climate. The southern part of the western region (Banat) has more like a Mediterranean climate while the other parts benefit from a more central European climate, less appropriate for grape vines.

The vineyards that you can find here are Banatului (with its famous viticulture centers from Moldova Noua, Recas, Tirol, Teremia and Silagiu), Minis- Maderat, Diosig, Valea lui Mihai and Silvaniei.

Dobrogea is another region that offers the world some of the best Romanian wine. Here, the grape vine can be successfully cultivated anywhere. The land is formed by a succession of hills and field that combine harmoniously with lots of light and sun heat. The soil has a great texture and is naturally fertilized with all the chemicals the grape vine crops require. The watering system functions naturally, a lot of raining is going on in this area and this is the main ingredient for a high quality wine.

The vineyards from Dobrogea are spread on 62 acres and produce one of the greatest Romanian wines, Murfatlar. On the northern part there is the Istria vineyard and on the south western side we have the wine centers from Ostrov, Oltina and Aliman.

The most important factor for the wine making process is the cultural one. In Dobrogea we have the real traditional Romanian wines made of noble grape vines. The Murfatlar wine, together with Cotnari and Pietroasa are part of the Romanian sweet wines that can be obtained from grapes at the end of their maturity process. All over this area there are red Romanian wines rich in color and flavor and white strong dry wines.