The winner of Romania’s Best Vine Grower contest has been announced!

Vine and wine-growing have been given fresh impetus in Romania, as of late

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 27.03.2023, 21:48

The maiden edition of a contest has been organized in the second week of March. The event is highly likely to create a tradition: Romania’s Best Grapevine Grower contest. It is about a dried grapevine-pruning national competition. The competition was aimed at bringing to the fore a category of specialists which is increasingly hard to find, but whose work is essential if we want to obtain a good wine.

The Ambassador of the We Open the Romanian Wine Program, the founder of Wines Romania and the co-founder of the RO-Wine international wine festival, Marinela Ardelean, gave us details on the event.

It’s about an event through which we sought to celebrate, to fete Romania’s vine growers and vine-growing alike. We often speak about wine, about oenology, but we speak less of those without whom we would not be able to enjoy the good wines Romania has on offer, namely the vine growers. It is precisely at this point that the idea occurred, the need, on one hand, to put to good use a world which is less well-known, while, on the other hand, each action is very important, contributing to the improvement in quality, for wine and the wine-growing industry. Therefore, highlighting the presence of these professionals, that implicitly means laying emphasis on an extremely important area when it comes to quality, namely the grapevine and how it is processed or worked on, given that the most important thing as regards the set of operations in the vineyard is particularly this trimming of the grapevine, performed early into the new year.

Here is Marinela Ardelean once again, continuing her story:

At this maiden edition, we brought together vine-growers from all regions of Romania. It was a contest where those vine growers could participate, who are experienced or who work in a wine cellar whose vineyard is registered with Romania’s National Registry of Vineyard Plantations. Therefore, eighteen professionals were assessed by an international judging panel, whose members came from Spain, Italia and Romania. Vine growers had twenty minutes to prune ten grapevine vine-stocks, according to the instructions given by the members of the judging panel.

Marinela Ardelean once again, this time telling us there were 10,000 Euros in prize money.

We also had winners. The grand prize or the first place remained in Buzau, there were the contest was held, at the Pietroasa wine cellar, while the second place went to Dobrogea, while the third place went to Banat. So here we have three regions that were put to good use. The first place was won by Dănuț Ploscaru, Constantin Udrea of Dobrogea was second-placed, while Paul Micu Huiet came in third, he was a professional from Banat. The joy was really great, first of all for those who won, but also for the competitors, as it was an extraordinary opportunity for them to get to know one another, to socialize, to discover each other, it was an opportunity through which the presence of professionals from the region was highlighted, but also an opportunity for region itself, Pietroasa. In Pietroasa, almost 200 people turned up, from students to professionals, to suppliers of equipment, of stuff needed by winemakers, wine cellar owners, who participated. It was an event whose scope was way above our expectations. Cross my heart!

Since the maiden edition came out as the beginning of a tradition, the organizers have the forthcoming editions in view already.

Marinela Ardelean once again.

For the next tear, we have opted for keeping our host, they were wonderful. Initially, we thought of travelling and being present each year in a different university, since the Pietroasa Wine cellar belongs to the University of Bucharest. In the beginning, we thought of going to each of the four cities where USAMV Bucharest university is present, yet we thought of staying in Pietroasa, first of all because it is close enough to Bucharest and because its vine-growing plantation is generous enough to host a contest of such a scope.

An opportunity specialists in the field should not miss, just as Marinela Ardelean told us:

For the future, we shall invite those who are into vine growing, the agronomists should stay on their toes, and we shall grow together. If 38 competitors registered for a maximum number of 40 places which we made available this year, for the next year we have set for ourselves the task of developing and I invite each of those who activate in the field and are vine growers or those who tend to the vineyards of wine cellars across Romania to nerve themselves to participate, just as their colleagues did, since it is an extraordinary opportunity for professional development, but also an opportunity to get to know colleagues from other regions.

The organizer of the event, Wines of Romania, is a hundred per cent private project. It seeks to provide a sustainable development of Romanian wine’s local and international success, at once being an active supporter of the vine-growing sector, constantly promoting it worldwide.

As for Marinela Ardelean, she is central character in the world of wine, in Romania, but also worldwide. The mission she has assumed is that of taking the Romanian wine far and wide around the world. An author of five books, an ambassador of the We Open the Romanian Wine program, the founder of Wines of Romania and co-founder of the RO-wine international wine festivals, Marinela Ardelean compelled international recognition through the activity she carried with the world’s most important competitions, but also thanks to the events through which she made Romania wine known to the most influential critics and wine connoisseurs.(EN)