Romania on the Wine Map
Many legends have been written about the emergence of wine
Corina Cristea, 20.12.2024, 13:29
Many legends have been written about the emergence of wine, with the oldest evidence being recorded in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and Egypt. Georgia is said to be the birthplace of wine, around 6000 BC, according to a study by experts from seven countries, for which scientists used carbon dating of ceramic fragments that were in contact with wine. Evidence has also been discovered in Iran, Greece and Sicily, but also some related to a wine made from fermented grapes mixed with other fruits in China, dating back more than 7000 years. Specialists say that at first the vine was “wild”, being domesticated later. And the oldest winery was discovered by archaeologists in a cave complex in Armenia. The site found here dates back to 4100 BC and contained a wine press, fermentation vessels, cups, and Vitis vinifera seeds. In addition to delighting us in the most unexpected ways, depending on its appearance, color, aroma or consistency, the wine in the glass tells the story of entire generations, of the formation of peoples and countries, as explained to Radio Romania by Cătălin Păduraru, PhD of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, president of the most important international wine competition in Central and South-Eastern Europe, Vinarium.
“It’s about a characteristic that the vine has, and which fundamentally changed the migration of great peoples. Grain plants are taken and stored, during migration the populations moved on, replanted them, waited for the first harvest, harvested them, consumed them, kept the seeds, and moved on. When these migrating populations from east to west passed through the Caucasus Basin and came across Vitis vinifera, and very soon arrived on the territory of today’s Romania and the Republic of Moldova and planted vines, they did not leave, because they could not do something without any meaning. They had to wait 4-5 years to enjoy the fruits of the vine. That is why I say that peoples and countries were formed around the vine. It completely changed the speed of the movement of peoples.”
In Romania, the cultivation of vines has a long tradition, historically attested, which certainly contributed to placing the country, nowadays, in the top of those with surface area cultivated with vines. Also, in terms of the quantities of wine produced – 13th place in the world and 6th place in Europe – wine is increasingly appreciated, both in the country and abroad. A look at the wine map reveals the existence of 8 regions in Romania – the Moldavian Hills, the Transylvanian Plateau, the Muntenia and Oltenia Hills, the Banat Hills, the Crișana and Maramureș Hills, the Danube Terraces, the Dobrogea Hills, respectively the sands and other less favorable areas in the south of the country. Each of these areas has its own particularities, specialists say – whether it is altitude, exposure, or sloping, for example, elements that leave their mark on the different ripening of the grapes. These differences are an asset for Romania as a wine-producing country, because these eco-climatic differences mean different varieties cultivated in certain areas and different periods of grape ripening. In other words, diversity. Again, Cătălin Păduraru, with another interpretation of the famous Latin adage in vino veritas, in wine lies the hidden truth:
“We did a unique experiment in the world, we managed to create the voice of wine, the sound fingerprint, and at some point we began to see that these voices are increasingly different. And we also came to a logical conclusion, I repeat it in the form in which I have said it every time, maybe at some point it will remain as such: if we trust that a piece of silicon, an electronic device, can record memory, why not have the belief that an organic type of matter can record information? Somehow, a wine that is a few years old, has witnessed some events, certainly has the information included, our only problem is that we still don’t know how to decipher it. This is what it means, in my vision, that the truth is in wine.”
Currently, in Romania, about 80 wineries practice wine tourism – most of them located in the southern part of the country, in Muntenia – and about a quarter of them also offer tourist accommodation. But Romania could make more of this important side of tourism, says Cătălin Păduraru.
“We designed, at the Wine Institute, where there is also Vinarium, a new type of tourism that is linked to a major project of the country, the A7 Motorway, which reaches Moldova and, from Iași, even the Republic of Moldova, which could be called the ‘Vineyard Motorway’. Because it passes through the most important vineyards in the country, through Dealul Mare, through Vrancea, and then through Moldavia. This does not mean that I minimize the importance of vineyards in the rest of the country. A new type of tourism can be developed, caravan tourism. You cannot build dozens of hotels in wineries overnight. Setting up spaces for camping and caravans can be done, and overnight all you need is water and electricity. And we can have, on this highway, a lot of foreigners who consume this type of tourism.”
Suddenly, the wineries could fill up, says Cătălin Păduraru.
