V Transylvanian Wines - Romania

Legend has it that Bacchus, the god of wine, was born in the ancient territory of Thracia, now known as Romania. Cultivated since the 7th century BC, the wines became famous in the ancient world, so much so, that when the Romans conquered the region in 106 AD, coins were minted with the symbol of children offering grapes to the gods.

Romania’s vineyards are positioned on the same latitude as Bordeaux. The Ville Banatului (a DOC wine region) of Transylvania benefits from a mild continental climate ideal for vine growing, which is aided by the low fertility of the soil. The rich reddish-brown ‘Terra Rossa’ soil contains iron oxide and chalk fragments with argil streaks, leading to the perfect balance of nutrients (or lack thereof).

The winery benefits from having Hartley Smithers (senior winemaker at Yellowtail) as consultant. Top of his field, Smithers has over 15 years of experience of more than 20 harvests in Australia, France, South Africa, Chile and Zimbabwe. In the Australian winter he works for V Transylvanian Wines.

Substantial investment has been made in the winery during the last four years (€4.5 million in total). It has a capacity of 7 million litres of wine and can process 400 tonnes of grapes per day. For the red wines, the company have modified the maceration capacity to 2500 tonnes, which means that all the red grapes can be left to macerate on their skins for up to a full month to fully extract colour and flavour.

So you know what we’ll be drinking this weekend among a barrage of screeching fireworks and screaming kids. Happy Halloween all!

Click here to view an independent video review of the V Pinot Noir by Lar Veale at sourgrapes.ie