{"id":1665,"date":"2023-02-16T07:36:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T07:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juliascavo.com\/?p=1665"},"modified":"2023-02-22T04:34:30","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T04:34:30","slug":"a-brief-overview-of-romanian-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juliascavo.com\/en\/a-brief-overview-of-romanian-wine\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief overview of Romanian wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A brief overview of Romanian wine, its scale statistically and brief history<\/strong><\/p>\n

Romania is home to one of the oldest wine growing cultures in Europe, predating ancient Dacia, shaped by the Romans, the monasteries and subsequently influenced by the French. It now has a clear focus on quality and harmonisation with European standards.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Romanian viticulture predates ancient Dacia where the cult of Sabazios might have inspired that of Dionysus, said to be born in Thrace. The Greeks also brought grapevines to their colonies via the Black Sea between 600 – 500 BC. The vineyards, located in present-day Dobrogea, were still well-known during the Roman colonisation.<\/p>\n

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Monasteries contributed to the development of vines and wines in the Valea C\u0103lugareasc\u0103, Dr\u0103g\u0103\u015fani region, or Transylvania. Prior to phylloxera, writers continuously mentioned vine growing and winemaking in the Romanian Principalities.\u00a0 Phylloxera struck in the early 1880s near Arad and was officially declared in 1884 in Prahova.<\/p>\n

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French ampelographers and viticulturists helped Romania overcome the crisis by introducing rootstock and French varieties while studying the local grapes. \u201cUne introduction \u00e0 l\u2019Amp\u00e9lographie Roumaine\u201d was written in 1900 by G. Nicoleanu, in collaboration with P. Viala et V. Vermorel.<\/p>\n

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Phylloxera and World War I changed the Romanian viticultural landscape \u2013 although the regions remained the same, certain old varieties and winemaking methods were lost. Due to the threat of fraud, vine regulations emerged by 1915, with the first designations around 1929 and the first wine map established in 1932.<\/p>\n

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During the 1944-1989 period, Romanian viticulture became highly industrialised under Communist rule to ensure productivity for the 5-year plans. Most of the indigenous plantings diminished \u2013 only a few really survived \u2013 while certain varieties were created through crossbreeds or pollen selection at this time for consistency and productivity purposes. Some revealed themselves to be highly interesting.<\/p>\n

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After 1990, slow changes occurred, but there was still a lot of backpedalling as the new market economy system lacked the requisite legal framework. De-collectivisation and privatisation were boosted by a new set of laws and encouraged by a couple of historic estates. With the new millennium, SAPARD European funds and foreign investment helped to reconstruct the country\u2019s wine heritage after some challenging years during the 1990s, also providing new regulations for grape growing and winemaking.<\/p>\n

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Romania ranks 5th<\/sup> in Europe and 10th<\/sup> in the world in terms of surface under the vines, with the 6th<\/sup> largest wine production in Europe for the 2021 vintage. With 189.000 ha planted (2,6% of the international vine surface), as denoted by the OIV in its last report, Romania has a huge potential to show. However, less than half of this area is used for commercial purposes, the rest being composed of yet un- approved plantings or non-homologated grape varieties. For instance, an incredible area of 83285,61 ha is planted with interspecific varieties and therefore remains un- approved.<\/p>\n

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The country relays almost entirely on itself as a customer for its wines. With a mere 5- 6% of export, only some acceptable to good, inexpensive wines reach a handful of clients abroad, especially through retail, buyers – own – brands, or bulk sales.<\/p>\n

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However, 2021 was a good vintage both in terms of production and exportations. Exports improved both in volume and in value, reaching 170.000 hl and 34.2 mill. \u20ac in 2021. Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK are our classic and most constant clients summing up 72% of the exports. Traditional wine producers such as Italy and Spain start opening to Romanian wine, while USA and China are still among the export destinations, despite the Covid crisis.<\/p>\n

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One should not forget that Romanians love drinking wine, with a 27-l per capita annual consumption. Not only do they drink almost all their domestic wine, but they also imported 562.200 hl in 2021, valuing 92,9 mill. \u20ac.<\/p>\n

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With such a development both on the domestic and the export market, tremendous evolutions of the sector are to be noted over the last couple of years. Over 500 entities are approved as grape growers, wine producers or both, but the list is shortened to a half when summing up the wineries and other facilities belonging to the largest producers (e.g. producers such as Cramele Reca\u015f, Jidvei, Casa de Vinuri Cotnari, Domeniile Alexandrion Rhein 1982, Beciul Domnesc, Crama Ceptura etc own various plantings in different areas, many winemaking facilities 2and different companies). Out of the approximatively 250 registered producers or \u201ccrame\u201d (source Crame Romania), even fewer commercialize bottled wine in accordance with legal sanitary standards.<\/p>\n

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Despite all these developments, local wine authorities are rather skeptical for the export situation, only estimating a maximum of 7% for the 2021 production. Not only does Romania export few, reported to its capacities and compared to its neighbours, but the exported wine is very cheap for the market: 1,5- 2 \u20ac\/l, which completely dilutes the identity of the national Brand.<\/p>\n

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It is, however, encouraging to see that exports have increased continuously since 2018 while before they had never reached more than 3-4%.<\/p>\n

Important support has also come recently from the EU with 47,5 mill. \u20ac annual funds for renovation, reconstruction and reconversion for the 2019- 2023 period.<\/p>\n

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Romania had been isolated for 50 years from the all the viti- vinicultural progress and developments and mostly continued to produce wines in the 90s from the same exhausted vines and with the same old communist facilities. Very few pioneers arrived with own funds that decade, namely Guy de Poix (SERVE), Sergio Faleschini (Vinarte), Karl Reh (nowadays Crama Opri\u015for) and John Halewood (ex- Halewood Romania, member of Alexandrion Group).<\/p>\n

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During the 2000s, plots, equipment, and techniques improved considerably with the arrival of most private investors and EU funds (especially the SAPARD programs). Owners of the new estates uprooted and replaced the old, exhausted vineyards, planted selected clones with an adapted choice of rootstock, replaced the moldy and musty oak casks with new French and Romanian barriques or Italian wooden barrels, and changed the concrete vats to shiny, temperature controlled, stainless-steel tanks.<\/p>\n

The Romanian wine regions are situated between the 44 and 48\u00b0 Northern latitude, in a moderate continental climate with hot summers (the average temperature in July is 23.5\u00b0C) and relatively harsh winters. The Black Sea brings mild influences, however temperatures of -20\u00b0C can still occur at least once every 10 years. With a relatively low rainfall rate of 540 mm on average, drought can occur during the summer.<\/p>\n

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The Carpathians (33% of the country\u2019s land area) block the polar and Siberian air masses coming from the North\/ North-East; only the Transylvanian Plateau is in EU Zone B.<\/p>\n

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Main regions – see with illustrative map\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Romania has three distinct zones: the intra-Carpathian plateau; the Carpathian foothills; and the Pontic-Danubian area. These are divided into 8 growing regions, 33 PDOs approved by the UE with a 34th<\/sup> still pending and 12 PGIs, which are endorsed by a certification seal from the ONVPV institute.<\/p>\n

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Banat – Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Banatului <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hills of Dobrogea- Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Colinelor Dobrogei<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>Cri\u015fana and Maramure\u015f – Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Cri\u015fanei \u015fi Maramure\u015fului<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hills of Moldova – Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Dealurilor Moldovei<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hills of Oltenia and Muntenia – Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Dealurilor Munteniei \u015fi Olteniei<\/strong>
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Transylvanian Plateau – Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Podi\u015fului Transilvaniei<\/strong>
\nDanube Terraces -Regiunea viticol\u0103 a Teraselor Dun\u0103rii<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sands and other favourable lands in the South – Regiunea nisipurilor \u015fi altor terenuri favorabile din sudul \u0163\u0103rii<\/strong><\/p>\n

No PDO<\/p>\n

Geographical Indications<\/strong><\/p>\n