THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE ROMANIAN PREMIUM WINE
DOMENIILE VINARTE
A n i n t e r n a l r e v o l u t i o n
As one of the first foreign investments in Romanian wine after 1990, VINARTE has started a real revolution on the domestic market, emphasizing quality over quantity. It inspired an entire generation of winemakers and entrepreneurs and set the benchmarks of satisfaction for a demanding and knowledgeable consumer base.
DOMENIILE VINARTE
2 6 y e a r s o f h i s t o r y
A global vision
By exploring the traditions, historical practices and diverse wine-growing regions of Romania since its foundation, VINARTE’s founders were able to choose the most favourable areas that could give rise to a multitude of expressions of local authenticity to an international audience.
Two valuable microclimates: Stârmina and Bolovanu
In the sunny southern lands of Romania, where wine-growing has been practiced for millennia and where the hot summers are tempered by two great rivers – the Danube and the Olt – the founders of VINARTE decided to set up two wine cellars that would process the grapes separately, so that each of them would represent as closely as possible the specific characteristics of each area. At Stârmina, in Mehedinți, local grape varieties such as Tămâioasă Românească, Fetească Regală, Negru de Drăgășani, Novac or Fetească Neagră are grown alongside valuable international varieties. At Bolovanu, in Sâmburești (Olt), the noble Cabernet Sauvignon grape is the king, accompanied by Negru de Drăgășani, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Noir and, more recently, other noble varieties.
SOARE release
SOARE – the first light
SOARE, first created by VINARTE in 1999, broke the patterns of past, quantity-driven oenology by bringing quality to the fore: it was a first ray of sunshine, an aspiration and a concrete and convincing statement about the potential of Romanian wines. It shaped the market and set new value standards.
International recognition for VINARTE
Year after year since its establishment and up to now – no doubt also in the future – the wines produced at Stârmina and Bolovanu win national and international recognition from professionals and consumers for their qualities, contributing significantly to the shaping of a relevant reputation for Romania.
Quality leaders
the trade press – among others, SOARE red 2017 was the first (and so far the only) Romanian wine to be awarded 93 points by Robert Parker – The Wine Advocate evaluators, several editions of this wine and other ranges having been praised over the past years by the famous publication.
A r a y o f S U N S H I N E f o r t h e R o a n i a n w i n e
The mission of the investors who founded Vinarte was from the very beginning, in the first years after the fall of communism, to bring Romanian wine back to the level at which history and tradition gave it the right to develop internationally. This is why they have travelled far and wide to discover the best microclimates and human communities in which to create authentic wines with an international vocation.
The sunny and drier areas in the south of the country – in particular the areas with suitable soil where the solar and thermal regime was balanced by the presence of large watercourses such as the Danube River and the Olt River – were particularly attractive to the founders of Vinarte, being unanimously considered by specialists as ideal for growing vines.
In order to reflect as faithfully as possible the distinctive characteristics of each of the areas selected to produce wines in line with micro-local conditions and the requirements of an increasingly globalised and demanding international market, the founders of Vinarte decided to set up two separate wine cellars, allowing for the careful and differentiated harvesting and processing of each variety and plot of vines.
There followed a long and expensive process of reorganisation and replanting of vineyards destroyed by the communist intensive exploitation focused on quantity rather than quality. During this process, special attention was paid to local identity varieties – practically, the Romanian variety Negru de Drăgășani was saved from extinction on this occasion.
The two wine cellars – at Stârmina (Mehedinți County, near the Danube) and at Bolovanu (Olt County, near the river of the same name) – also required major and long-term investments.
This historical era was particularly difficult: these were the early years of the break from (post-)Soviet influence, the time before Romania’s accession to the European Union. The period was characterized by economic and social instability and major uncertainties about Romania’s future course. Today it may seem hard to believe, but the confidence and efforts of foreign investors in the future of this country “at the edge of empires” were among the decisive factors in the European path Romania was to follow. At the time, the die had not been cast yet.
…and then SOARE appeared!
was, in 1998, the vision – the philosophy – for Romanian wine. It became a model and inspiration for all those who wanted to produce or consume quality wine. This was how top Romanian wine could be, this was how it should be: a new standard had been set.
The people at Vinarte have always kept SOARE as a precious treasure, as the source of the company’s prestige and fame. In years when climatic conditions did not allow, the wine was not produced – precisely to preserve the authenticity, quality and expressiveness of the pennant wine. Only the highest quality was the synonym for SOARE: the quality of the grapes, of the methods of vinification and maturation in noble oak barrels, of the corks and bottles and of the people who represented SOARE in the consumers’ eyes!
The high production and marketing standards, international competitions and ratings, as well as the reaction of the informed public, have been the decisive steps that SOARE has climbed, year after year, on its way to the recognition it enjoys today. The bottles kept in the winery’s wine cellar from that time until today bear witness to the longevity and quality of SOARE wines.
Awards
G o l d m e a l s
