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Still unknown, these Moldovan wines that have everything of the great

Located in Orhei, Château Vartely has an estate of 500 hectares. © Agnieszka Kumor/RFI

Text by: Agnieszka Kumor

10 mn

Moldova is among the twenty largest wine producers in the world. Largely focused on the countries of the European Union, Moldovan producers have been able to limit the effects of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. But rising commodity prices worry them.

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From our Special Envoy,

Pointed roof houses, each with its apple orchard leaning against the house. "We're home." Andrian Digolean's finger at the wheel of the car points to a large sign at the entrance to Orhei, a medium-sized city located 44 kilometers north of the capital, Chisinau. It reads: Château Vartely. Andrian Digolean is the commercial director. You still have to cross the city, go around a bar of decrepit buildings and a municipal cemetery to reach the estate. But our host's enthusiasm is contagious.

A city with a turbulent past

It is by the expressway lined with hazel trees that we arrive at Orhei. The main thoroughfare is teeming with modern cars. The agro-industrial center with its turbulent past owes its transformation to its former mayor, Ilan Shor. On the run to Israel, the former oligarch was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in Moldova for siphoning a billion dollars from banks, but continues to destabilize political life in his country.

At the head of the municipality, his former right-hand man Marina Tauber, of the eponymous pro-Kremlin party Shor. Personalities with questionable ethics that the inhabitants of the city continue to support against all odds. Our host, an avowed pro-European, shakes his head, dismayed. The tension is palpable between the country's pro-Western aspirations and its Soviet past. Fortunately, the region is also known for its wine production.

The important sector for the Moldovan economy

Moldova is heir to a long wine-making tradition. A past that dates back to 5,000 years before our era. This is evidenced by the prehistoric collections of the National Museum of the History of Moldova in Chisinau. The wine market plays a major role in the economy of this country of 2.6 million people. The sector generates 5% of Moldovan GDP Arcadie Barbaroşie, director of the Chisinau-based Institute for Public Policy (IPP). In 2022, Moldova produced 1.3 million hectolitres of wine and exported 145.5 million euros. The country has learned from two embargoes imposed on Moldovan wines by Russia in 2006 and 2013. "Many areas went bankrupt, but new entities with modern equipment emerged," he said.

The sector has been able to diversify its markets, increasing the quality and prices of bottles. Founded in 2013, the National Office of Vine and Wine (ONVV) has made its Wine of Moldova brand a promotional tool worldwide. Largely oriented towards the European Union, Moldovan producers have been able to limit the effects of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. "But the rise in raw material prices is giving us a hard time," sighs the commercial director of Château Vartely. Another problem: a third of "wine tourists" who visited this area before Covid have not returned since.

Andrian Digolean, Commercial Director of Château Vartely. © Agnieszka Kumor / RFI

We are in Codru, the wine region of the center. Together with Valul lui Traian to the south and Ştefan Voda to the east, it is one of the country's three grape production areas (PGI, Protected Geographical Indications). More than half of Moldova's vineyards are concentrated in Codru. Its hilly landscape resembles the Burgundian hillsides. The Dniester, a large river separating Bessarabia from Transnistria, tempers spring frosts. Château Vartely decided to plant its white grape varieties there. Another part of its 500-hectare vineyard is located in the south where red cultivars take advantage of the proximity of the Prut, the river bordering Romania.

The originality of Moldovan wines

Moldovan producers use international grape varieties to produce their cuvées, but local grape varieties are also popular. "It's the native varieties that allow us to differentiate ourselves from other wines in the world," says Tatiana Croitoru of the family estate. Its 300 hectares of vineyards, spread around the village of Tigheci, are located in the region of Valul lui Traian, 100 kilometers from the capital. The winemaker welcomes us with her daughter Ruxanda Lipcan in their offices in Chisinau. The former Romanian teacher Tatiana operated with her husband Grigore Diaconu, a turning point at the dawn of the 2000s. Together, they bought vines, modernized equipment and planted local varieties. "We had to do things right or give up," recalls Tatiana, whose love for things well done led her to become an oenologist. "Our native cultivars are particularly at home in blends," confirms his daughter Ruxanda, who handles marketing.

Among these indigenous grape varieties originating in Romania or Moldova: fetească regală, fetească alba, viorica (the latter gives excellent sparkling wines). So much for white people. As well as fetească neagră andrară neagră, for reds. These last two cultivars have been particularly successful for Tatiana since her "black" cuvée, Negre 2017, composed of these two local varieties aged in French oak barrels was elected best red wine in the world in 2022 by the Concours mondial de Bruxelles, beating its 5000 competitors flatly. In Fáutor, innovation continues with saperavi, a recently planted Georgian cultivar, which is definitely popular in Moldova.

Tatiana Croitoru (right) and Ruxanda Lipcan (left) from the Fáutor estate. © Agnieszka Kumor / RFI

An agronomic turning point underway

Medallists, Moldovan wines now play in the big leagues. But the pressure from consumers, worried about the future of the planet, is becoming stronger and stronger. "We must turn to organic viticulture as soon as possible," says Elena Davidescu. Together with her brother, Andrian, she represents the second generation of Moldovan winemakers. Their parents, Vladimir and Steliana, founded a 1990,1-hectare estate, Vinaria din Vale, in the 000s. Their children aspire to a new beginning, agronomic this time.

The conversion of the vineyard is underway, says Elena, reached by videoconference in the city of Cantemir, in the region of Valul lui Traian. The marketer focuses on native varieties. But war and crisis are never far away. "Moldovans are watching their spending. Wine is considered a luxury product. For exports, markets are hesitant. Some of our importers ask us if the country is safe. We are not giving up, even if the situation remains tense. We have to pay our employees at the end of the month," she concludes.

To help them, these winemakers rely on a fruit company, founded more than twenty years ago by Vladimir, the father: "We grow and export our fruit. Cherries, apples, plums, apricots. Our orchards are full of them."

Helping Ukrainian refugees

Head to Castel Mimi, its imposing concrete castle and hotel complex located in Bulboaca, 43 kilometres from the capital. The estate's 170 hectares of vines face the great Dniester River, further north. Founded in 1893 by the last governor of Tsarist Bessarabia, Constantin Mimi, the castle had its "Stakhanovist" period under the USSR, before being bought in 1998 by the current owner, Iurie Trofim. His son, Adrian, says: "My father worked in a Soviet wine company that this place had become at the time, and then he studied law in Chisinau. After the fall of the Communist Party, he set up several flourishing activities. When the privatizations of state-owned companies began, he obtained a loan from the bank at an exorbitant rate, and bought this property which was then in very poor condition, "continues the young thirty-year-old, general manager of the estate. The history of Castel Mimi reflects the history of the country.

Aging of wines in barrels in Castel Mimi. © Agnieszka Kumor / RFI

From the beginning of the war, Moldova has shown solidarity with its Ukrainian neighbours. The estate has dispatched a mobile kitchen to the border to help refugees arriving en masse from the Odessa region. Two of the chefs employed in the estate's restaurant are Ukrainians. Since then, the crisis has gone through this. "Because of rising raw material costs, we had to increase the prices of our bottles. We have lost some mature markets, notably Poland, but sales to Romania are increasing," says Adrian Trofim.

The European dream

Our host does not hide his pride: it is in Castel Mimi that the second Summit of the European Political Community will be held on June 1, 2023. The leaders of 47 European countries will meet to strengthen their cooperation in the context of the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis. Welcomed by Moldovan President Maia Sandu, they will take the train chartered especially for the occasion. Leaving the estate, a railway crosses our road. "It's greener to have them come by train, isn't it?" smiles mischievous Vladislava of the marketing department. Moldova is a candidate for accession to the European Union.

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