Wine-growing tourism in Romania

The fascinating experience of Romania's wine cellars

Daniel Onea, 12.10.2023, 14:00

Romania has a very generous offer of vast vineyards
and beautiful wine cellars, fascinating stories of genuine treasures that await the wine
lovers. Moreover, these wine cellars can be visited as part of several special
programs which include walks around the vineyards, detailed info on the
wine-making process and, more important than all that, wine tasting sessions.

This week’s edition of Traveler’s Guide
spins the yarn of a different experience, that of the legends told till late at
night, in a picturesque setting.

Alina Iancu is the founder of Romania’s Wine
Cellars project. Alina is also a promoter of the local wines and of the
wine-growing tourism. Alina told us the number accommodation units at the wine cellars
but also in the surrounding areas has been on the rise, as of late.

From this
particular viewpoint, as against the last two, maybe three years, we fare much
better. We have only one association, which is active, the Dealu Mare Wine
Cellars Association. There are around 15 wine cellars in the association and several
times a year they organize the Open Gates Day. Which means that a couple of wine
cellars can be visited the same day with no previous appointment. There are a great
many wine cellars, from the Dealu Mare vineyard, Dragasani or even from Transylvania, that began to stage festive events, be they live
concerts at the wine cellar, or the Wine Cellar Day, celebrated at a certain
moment in time, or the Grape Harvest Day. And then, when you know there are several
wine cellars in a region, you’re aware you need to be able to plan your weekend.
To this wine cellar you go for the grape harvest, while to that one, you go to
enjoy the vineyard. There are a couple of vineyards that have started to associate
with other local producers, be they cheesemakers or producers of meat specialties.
And then, apart from a wine-growing experience, you can also have a culinary
experience. To that end, we’ve got much more work to do, yet the local
producers in certain areas have begun to put their produce together and present
them to the people visiting their households.

While visiting a wine cellar, tourists are
initiated in the art and technique of wine tasting and can also listen to its tale.
When their visit is about to end, the guests of the wine cellar can have a
stopover at the souvenir shop, available to them with souvenirs in a liquid
state. The initiator of Romania’s Wine Cellars project, Alina Iancu, told us
wine growing tourism goes perfectly with other forms of tourism.

Being welcomed at the wine cellar also
means a brief presentation of the technological process, a sight-seeing tour where
you are shown the hall where the grapes a reprocessed, the maturation area with
the barrels, which is the strongest point of attraction, then the wine tasting
session begins. As a rule, five sorts of wine are tasted, and some of them can
also go with other produce. A visit to a wine cellar lasts for about one hour
and a half. However, winegrowing tourism also goes with active tourism. More often
than not, cycling or running activities are organized. That happens at national
level as in the long run, you can enjoy the scenery, while in the end, when you
reach your destination, you can also enjoy a glass of wine. Romania is
well-known for its white as well as for its red wines, yet that has been gaining
ground, quality-wise, as in recent years a great many new wine cellars have cropped
up and in Romania, not only have they improved their quality, but also, the
wine cellars already put themselves on the market with quality wines. Emphasis
is laid, by all means, on the local sorts, on the indigenous sports, while
quality is sensibly improving.

Apart from the wine
tasting sessions at the wine cellars, tourists can also enjoy taking part in
events staged in the big cities across Romania, Alina Iancu also said. For example,
the second edition of the Revino Gourmet Salon is held in Bucharest, over October
21 and 23rd.

Alina
Iancu:

We bring over wine makers, producers of craft beer, but also cheese makers
and producers of meat specialties. So, you go the whole hog when you have this
gastronomic experience, you can make the most of it for a couple of days running,
what with the fact that it is smack bang in the middle of the capital city. Such
events are staged in the big cities across the country, each year. It is a
start, in a bid to have wine sorts go with the local produce, while this event is
not only for the visiting public. Local producers need to met other local
producers, because that is the only way we can enhance the value of the
produce, and that of the place. Whenever we introduce a wine sort and point to
a sort of local cheese that best goes with it, the story is a much more complex
wine. In the build-up to all that, there are several factors, people and
places, while the taste is a much stronger one, when more products are being laid
out, all of them hailing from the same region.

There are a great many
tourists who come to the wine cellars. However, quite a few of them travel to Romania
for business purposes. Such people would like to have a special experience at the
weekend.

There
are very few tourists who come for the wine-growing part alone. However, in such
vineyards as the ones in Dealul Mare, Drăgășani or even
in Transylvania, very many foreign tourists dedicate their weekends to such
visits and it goes without saying they’re impressed with what they see as,
first of all, they ‘re not aware Romania is a great producer of wines, and secondly,
they are impressed with the quality of the wine. Besides, wine-growing tourism
can be done all year round. Any time of the year has its own flavor, yet the
most sought-after are the months of May all through to October, when nature and
the temperature readings allow you to enjoy other experiences than the
wine-tasting one. What we need to know, though, is that early booking in needed
and usually we take groups of visitors made of at least six people.

If you access the Crame Romania platform, you can get info on
the wine cellars, the particular places where they are located, as well as info
on the indigenous sorts and, in general, on how a wine sort can be tasted. The founder
of Romania’s Wine Cellars project, Alina Iancu, year after year, invites tourists
to get acquainted with Romania’s wines and wine cellars.

It’s been ten years since
we promote wine-growing tourism. We also need the public to be more and more interested,
as the experience is unique and the local producers have also accommodation
places on offer, as well as special dedicated rooms and special personnel, more
and more dedicated. You should be anxious to know, as soon as you reach Romania,
according to the area you may find ourselves in, you should be anxious enough to ask whether
there are wine cellars nearby, since the places you’re about to visit and the
wines you’re about to taste, all that is well worth the while !

We have already extended our invitation! Next
week’s edition takes you to Mures, the Romanian county with the greatest number
of castles and mansions.