Romanian Sparkling Wines

Romanian wines, generally appreciated by both locals and foreigners, have long been a distinct Romanian brand. What is not that well known, however, is that sparkling wine, or Romanian champagne, as we call it, has a long-standing tradition of its own. An

Eugen Cojocariu, 29.04.2012, 17:40

Romanian wines, generally appreciated by both locals and foreigners, have long been a distinct Romanian brand. What is not that well known, however, is that sparkling wine, or Romanian champagne, as we call it, has a long-standing tradition of its own. And that is the first requirement in assessing the quality of wines.

The first documented reference regarding the introduction of champagne to Romania can be found in the chronicles of Moldavian scribe Ion Neculce. Apparently, in 1710, Russian tsar Peter the Great visited Iasi during his military campaign against the Ottoman Empire. He got a royal welcome from the Moldavian prince of the time, who in turn called him over to his camp set up on the bank of the River Prut.

There he invited the Moldavian prince to taste a “French wine” which enthralled both the prince and his retinue on the spot. It seems that the French wine was champagne, which started being bottled in Romania one hundred years later. At the time, agronomist and scholar Ion Ionescu de la Brad started to make sparkling wines on the royal vineyards in Iasi for the Moldavian Prince Mihai Sturdza.

Once the production line got started, champagne makers, both local and foreign, started to surface in the vicinity of the largest Romanian vineyards. For instance, one of the oldest champagne-making wine cellars is in the town of Azuga. In 1892, the wine cellar was named official purveyor of the Royal House. In our times, the Rhein-Azuga wine cellar, as it is called now, is the property of a private company, and continues to make sparking wine, observing the original recipe.

Mihai Chitic, the representative of Halewood winemakers, told us more about the history of this wine cellar:

“It was built between 1888 and 1892, and it is the oldest wine cellar that makes sparkling wine after the traditional recipe, which is wine fermented while kept in bottles. Romania was among the first champagne makers in the world. In 1841, Ion Ionescu de la Brad made the first sparkling wine for Prince Sturdza in a hut somewhere on the hills of Copou. He left the wine to ferment for one year in bottles, and that is how the first Romanian sparkling wine came into being, before the famous Italian champagne Asti, which was first produced in 1842. On a chronological timeline, Romanian champagnes surfaced after French, Spanish and Russian champagnes. In turn, Russians cherished champagne, and launched the fashion of drinking champagne with caviar, breaking champagne glasses or drinking champagne from ladies’ shoes when they ran out of glasses”.

Nowadays, the Rhein-Azuga cellars also have a bed and breakfast and a restaurant for tourists who wish not only to spend their holidays in the mountains, on Prahova Valley, but also to taste the wines there, champagne included. A similar location is in Urlati, Prahova county. There, a cellar, which the tourists can visit just to see where champagne is stored, was set up in Urlateanu mansion. Mihai Chitic has further details.

“Urlateanu mansion bears the name of a master of ceremonies back in 1784, named Urlateanu, who was brought up into a family of boyars from Muntenia. This mansion was built in 1922 by his descendant, in an absolutely famous area for sorts of wines like Feteasca Neagra , Urlati or Ceptura, up on a hill . It is in Brancoveanu style and has got the same tourist facilities, where you can taste the wines in the cellar. There are wines which can mature in 225 litre capacity vats according to the Bordeaux method. It is actually the last stage at which the wine acquires all the complex flavours and the proper roundness to be poured directly into the decanter. And you can also enjoy a meal, since we don’t have any accommodation facilities, but you can be closer to the vineyard because it is on a hill amidst vineyards and this is a completely different scenery from that found in Azuga.“

As a result, if you are planning a wine trip in Romania, Azuga and Urlati should not be off your list, because there history can happily intertwine with the current method of champagne making.