Moldovan wine

The Purcari winery surrounded by its vineyards. The vineyard in the forefront is a "village" vineyard used for home-made wine

Fossils of Vitis teutonica vine leaves near the Naslavcia village in the north of Moldova indicate that grapes grew here approximately 6 to 25 million years ago. The size of grape seed imprints found near the Varvarovca village, which date back to 2800 BC, prove that at that time the grapes were already being cultivated. The grapegrowing and wine-making in the area between the Nistru and Prut rivers, which began 4000–5000 years ago, had periods of rises and falls but has survived through all the changing social and economic conditions.[5]

By the end of the 3rd century BC, trading links were established between the local population and the Greeks and from 107 AD with the Romans, a fact which strongly influenced the intense development of the grape-growing and wine-making.[5]

After the formation of the Moldavian feudal state in the 14th century, grape-growing began to develop and flourished in the 15th century during the kingdom of Stephen the Great, who promoted the import of high quality varieties and the improvement of the quality of wine, which was one of the chief exports of Moldova throughout the medieval period, especially to Poland, Ukraine and Russia.[5]

Moldovan postage stamp, dedicated to the National Wine Day

After the Treaty of Bucharest in 1812, when the region became a province of the Russian Empire, the wine industry flourished again. The main varieties were the traditional ones: Rară Neagră, Plavai, Galbena, Zghiharda, Batuta Neagră, Fetească Albă, Fetească Neagră, Tămâioasa, Cabasia and many other local, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Greek, and Turkish varieties. In this period, the grape growers gained governmental support and by 1837 the vineyard area in Bessarabia reached 14,000 hectares, and the wine production reached 12 million litres. The second half of the 19th century saw an intensive planting of newly introduced French varieties, such as Pinot blanc, Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Aligote, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon blanc, Gamay, Muscat blanc. It was at this time that wines like Negru de Purcari and Romanesti, which have made Moldova famous as a fine wine producer, began to be produced.[5]

After the phylloxera damage at the end of the 19th century, it was only in 1906 that the vineyards began to recover with grafted planting material. By 1914 Bessarabia had the biggest vineyard area in the Russian Empire.[5]

Both World Wars damaged the Moldolvan vineyards and the wine industry considerably. The re-establishment of Moldavian vineyards began during Soviet years, in the 1950s. Over 150,000 hectares were planted in 10 years, and by 1960 the total vineyard area had reached 220,000 hectares.[5] In the 1980's Russia was suffering from alcoholism and ordered the destruction of vineyards, between 1985 and 1987 30% were destroyed.[5]

In 2006, a diplomatic conflict with Russia resulted in the 2006 Russian ban of Moldovan and Georgian wines, damaging the wine industry of Moldova, as Russia had been the largest importer (80%) of Moldovan wines, the ban lasted 2 years.[5] A fresh ban was imposed in September 2013, as a result of Moldova's announcement of plans to sign a draft association treaty with the European Union, not so effective this time as Moldova had sought alternative export markets in the intervening years and was producing better quality wines.[6][7]

The national brand “Wine of Moldova” was created in 2013 by the newly created National Office of Vine and Wine (ONVV) whose main objective was the promotion of quality Moldovan wine abroad.[8]

In 2022 wines were being exported from 260 wineries to 75 countries, with 60% of the wines produced being exported to European Union countries.[4]

In Moldova four regions for wine growing are to be found:

• Bălți (northern zone)
• Codru (central zone)
• Purcari (south-eastern zone)
• Cahul (southern zone)

The most important region - the Southern area - is suitable for red sweet and semi-sweet wines. White wines have a high content of alcohol. Micro-regions like Taraclia, Ciumai, Comrat, Ceadir-Lunga, Baurci, Cazaiac, Tomai, Cimislia etc. are also in the southern region.

Rară Neagră, the main indigenous red variety

Moldovan Chardonnay

Moldovan viticulture is characterized by a large variety of grapes:[9]

Divin - represents the name, patented in the Republic of Moldova, of the country's brandy, produced in conformity with the classic technology of cognac production.

Mileștii Mici – the world's largest wine cellars

The Moldovan wine collection "Mileștii Mici", with 1.5 million bottles, is the largest wine collection in the world, according to the Guinness Book. It stretches for 200 km and has a relative humidity of 85-95% and a constant temperature of 12-14° C.[10]

The Cricova winery also has an extensive network of tunnels that stretch for 120 km.

Mimi Wine Castle

The Moldova Wine Guild is a non-profit association established in August 2007 by several of Moldova's leading private wineries, i.e. Acorex Wine Holding, Vinaria Bostavan, Chateau Vartely, DK-Intertrade, Dionysos-Mereni, Lion-Gri, and Vinaria Purcari.[11] The member wineries are united by their desire to raise Moldova's profile as a major European wine producing country. To accomplish this goal, the members work together to promote their wines on the international market through joint marketing initiatives and to educate the international wine trade and press about Moldova.

• Moldovan cuisine
• Wine competition
• Winemaking
• Agriculture in Moldova

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wines of Moldova.

• www.winemoldova.com – the association of Moldovan small wine producers Archived 2018-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
• www.vinmoldova.md – information about the Moldovan wine industry
• The unexplored wine region of Moldova /FoxNews.com/