19 Sep 2024

Romanian Wine Grapes

Băbească Neagră – an ignored beauty
Băbeasca Neagră (which roughly translates to “old lady’s black grape”) is the second most widespread indigenous red grape in Romania (2590 ha), after Feteasca Neagră (3090 ha), although the presence on the shelves gives no hint about this at all. Most producers overlooked this variety...
10+1 Excellent Romanian Wines- #winelover recommendations of 2019 (still valid in 2020)

The most frequent question I get, especially from non-connaisseur friends is “What is the best wine?”. My answer to that is that it is similar to asking who is the most beautiful woman … it depends on who you ask. I hate rankings, points, but…

Feteasca Regala- Discover the prolific Royal Maiden

Imagine a grape you could use for any type of white wine, from dry to sweet, from still to sparkling and even for distilled drinks. How about if the same grape performed equally well in stainless steel or oak? On top of that, imagine it…

Busuioaca de Bohotin- Roses and basil in a glass, just not so native

When I’ve started the series about native grapes in Romania, I made a list. I put every variety people would recommend as a “must try”, native grapes. Yet, as previously mentioned in the article about Tamaioasa Romaneasca, not all these are true Romanian grapes, they…

Tamaioasa romaneasca- A story how Muscat Blanc gets a different name in every country

Would you drink “incense-like” wine? Maybe not the best marketing, but “tamaioasa” means “incense flavored” in Romanian. Given the deeply orthodox influence in this country, it comes as no surprise to name a grape variety like that. We also have “busuioaca”, which translates to “basil flavored”,…

A Pocket Guide- Red Romanian Grapes- Negru de Dragasani

This year Romania celebrates 100 years as a unified county, but for several centuries before the region’s historical provinces spoke a common language and shared similar customs and traditions. These included a talent for viticulture and passionate appreciation for wine. Today, the passion persists, and viticulture…

A Pocket Guide- White Romanian Grapes- Feteasca Alba

Before delving into another delicious and delicate white grape variety, let’s just take a moment and think about vine pests. Some of the grapes and therefore wines we know today in Europe are the result of fighting the great phylloxera invasion of the late XIX-th…

A Pocket Guide- Red Romanian Grapes- Feteasca Neagra

When it comes to traveling, each country has a specific landmark like the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty or the Pyramids of Egypt. The same is valid for wines. You can taste the Spanish passion in a glass made from Tempranillo, see the beauty of…

A Pocket Guide- White Romanian Grapes- Zghihara de Huși

After you tone down the amazement of learning that Romania is the 13th wine producing country in the world, if you decide to spend your time here, it’s time to enjoy some local wines. Unfortunately, you could find yourself puzzled in front of a wine…

romanian wine labels art
Marketing

Judging Romanian wines by the label: themes and symbols 

Clothes, posters, book covers, labels … how much does the graphical presentation matter for our choices? Neither of us admits they judge people, movies, books, and wines according to these criteria, but we do it at a subliminal level. We are not superficial; we do…

Education

The Flowers of Evil- Wine faults 

Wet dog? Barnyard smell? Pickled cabbage? Rotten apples? Vinegar? Glue? Mold? Nobody likes such attributes in their wine tasting notes. Unfortunately, sometimes even if manufacturers, distributors, and even consumers try their best, the wine ending up in our glasses has one of these defects. What…

Places

#Transylwine at Liliac- Transylvanian terroir 

Visiting Transylvania with the almost mandatory stops at Sibiu, Sighisoara or Brasov has already been ticked off the bucket lists of most Romanian and foreign tourists. Before you set up for an all-inclusive holiday in Turkey or Greece, remember that the Clock’s Tower in Sighisoara…

ladies of wine veuve cliqout lilly bollinger romanian ladies in wine
Lifestyle

Ladies of Wine 

Wine is a traditionally a men’s world, yet some exceptions can inspire us. There are even Romanian ladies who already are a reference name in the world of wine. The ancient goddesses Long before Bachus and Dionysus, about 5,000 years ago, Gestin was revered in…

Places

The MaxiMarc Wine Winery – Where dreams become wines 

Originally published in Romanian in Vinul.ro The tradition of family wine cellars is just sprouting in Romania. The oldest ones are barely at the second generation. In this landscape, a young wine cellar, set up in 2016, bearing the name of the heirs of the…

castel Jidevi bethelen haller
Places

The Magic of Jidvei 

The first thing you have to know about Jidvei is that this is a place in Transylvania where magic comes to life as wine and where efficiency reigns supreme. Get ready to be impressed by the scale of the operations, the beauty of the sites…

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