“Wine Rises in the East, Including in Romania” #1/3 by Florence Monferran

Between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the Balkans are emerging on the European wine scene. A fresh wind of technical mastery is reviving millennia-old traditions. A young country with a long history of shifting borders, Romania is rediscovering its prestigious past. Terroirs influenced by multiple cultures, documented since antiquity, once formed the foundation of great wines. However, they were swept away by phylloxera, two world wars, and the communist era of mass wine production.
Now, quietly but surely, Romania is producing convincing and unpretentious wines, ready to make their mark in their own “Westward conquest.” This land, always favorable to viticulture, has entered a period of revitalization alongside its integration into the European Union. Supported by investments and foreign winemakers, it is entering a new phase of development, distinctly Romanian in both ownership structures and cultural practices.

Romania Unveils Its Strengths

Romanian Wine by the Numbers

With 4.5 million hectoliters (11th largest global producer), a per capita annual consumption of 15 liters, and 3% of its production exported, these were the statistics for Romanian wine in 2023. Vineyard acreage has been declining since the 2000s, dropping from 242,700 hectares in 2002 (comparable to Chile’s vineyards) to 187,000 hectares in 2023 (8th globally). While a handful of large estates remain, an increasing number of smaller wineries contribute to this evolving viticultural landscape.

Diversity as a Key Strength

Romania’s varied landscapes, from the Carpathians to the Black Sea, teem with contrasts. Forests, home to bears and dotted with castles and monasteries, give way to cereal plains, while the Danube River’s arms cradle the country in protected biodiversity. Warm and welcoming hospitality, rooted in a Latin sense of celebration, surprises visitors compared to the fast pace of Western Europe.
In Dacia, successive dominations (Greco-Latin, Germanic, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman) shaped a layered viticultural culture without territorial unity. These complex influences enrich the diversity of grape varieties, techniques, and perspectives, creating wines with undeniable freshness and new flavors. Having been absent from the world’s stage of great wines, Romania now signals its ambitions.

A Vineyard Reborn

The 1990s marked a turning point. Large state-owned production structures were auctioned off, leaving everything to be rebuilt. Hugh Johnson, a renowned wine expert, noted the potential of Romania’s terroirs. European pioneers like Guy de Poix, Petro Vaselo, Olivier Bauer, and Denis Thomas were among the first to follow. In 2005, the Romanian government recognized wine as a strategic product and launched a plan to enhance quality through European-style appellations (DOC) and geographic indications (IG).
On January 1, 2007, Romania joined the European Union. With subsistence agriculture still employing 45% of the population, the country faced an immense task of modernizing infrastructure, improving wine quality, and restructuring distribution networks. EU funding, exceeding €40 million annually, supported investments in modern equipment, advanced technologies, and viticultural expertise. French, Italian, German, Austrian, and Hungarian winemakers and investors soon converged on the country.

Terroirs Abound

At the same latitude as the world’s greatest vineyards – the renowned 45th parallel – Romania has everything needed for viticulture: abundant sunshine, rich lands, diverse soils, and favorable climates. A few privileged regions, confirmed by around fifty appellations, stand out.

Transylvania, with its plateau steeped in legends, is home to renowned terroirs such as Dealu Mare, “The Great Hill,” designated as a DOC. In this Subcarpathian area crisscrossed by valleys and rivers where vines have always thrived, renewal is underway. In 1994, Corsican Count Guy de Poix, captivated by a tasting of fetească neagră, invested in the first private winery, Serve. Within this limited area near Mizil, major estates later emerged.
Davino, a benchmark for purity of varieties among agronomists, began crafting racy, powerful Bordeaux-style wines on 87 hectares in 2003. Austrian Walter Friedl established Lacerta with 82 hectares replanted and an investment of €8 million. A little further, Marquis Piero Antinori, whose Tuscan family invests worldwide, created a 100-hectare vineyard, Viile Metamorfosis. He truly transformed Romanian wines, highlighting the region’s typicity and the full potential of its grape varieties. Dominele Franco-Romane (DFR), led by Burgundian Denis Thomas, combines traditional methods with modern technologies in the same area. Later, at Budureasca, one of the largest producers (275 hectares) equipped itself with ultra-modern facilities and a cutting-edge winery, exporting the logotype image of Dacian King Decebal to about 20 countries.
Some ancient vineyards are being revived further north, in the DOC Lechinta, with estates like Liliac or Jelna Wines. A tradition of dry white wines with delicate, spicy notes is now complemented by subtle reds.
To the west, near Timisoara, Serbian Petro Vaselo spearheaded the return of vineyards to the Banat region as early as 2002. The Tarnave Plateau has attracted investors such as German Oberrauch at Villa Vinea. Jidvei, founded in 1949 and privatized 50 years later, has undergone extensive modernization around its medieval castle. As the largest producer in the country and in Europe, with 2,500 hectares, Jidvei, a pioneer in technological innovation, has invested €100 million in an impressive modernization effort. Its fetească albă holds its own in international comparisons.
Romanian Moldavia, which encompasses one-third of the country’s vineyard area, has long produced renowned sweet passito wines, particularly in the Cotnari vineyard. Casa de Vinuri represents a fusion of tradition—focused exclusively on native grape varieties—and cutting-edge technologies over 350 hectares.
The sunny Dobrogea Plateau, stretching to the Danube Delta and the Black Sea, boasts fertile soils and a maritime climate. Alira, starting in 2006 under a Bordeaux model, and Murfatlar have built the region’s reputation.

Guy de Poix quickly noted the “rather impressive” complexity of the terroirs (RFI, 2008). Transylvania’s chernozem, a humus-rich black soil, “the best for vineyards,” requires almost no fertilizers, explains Ovidiu Maxim in Turda. The volcanic soils near Bistrița, with a high alkaline pH, “provide a very interesting activation of mineral cations, a kind of energy,” describes Darius Pripon in Jelna.
Everything is in place to rebuild vineyards and produce high-quality wines.

Photograph © Florence Monferran