Vinaria-DAC is one of Moldova’s small wine producers, but its wines came to the attention of not only Moldovan consumers, but also the sophisticated Frenchmen. The wine importing company Etnik Wines promotes and sells these wines in France and Belgium. Besides, they export to China and Romania.
A “bomb” for the French
In their style, Vinaria Dac’s wines are close to French ones (perhaps Bordeaux and Burgundy). For example, DAC Rosu Domnesc from Vinaria DAC turned out to be a “bomb” for the French. Since it is produced by blending Feteasca Neagrю – Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it “explodes” with red fruit with a vanilla notes brought in by the oak barrels, the aroma also opens animal tinges”, – noted the director of Etnik Wines, Oxana Spinatii.
This wine also came out quite well at a private tasting against wines from Italy, France and Spain. It should be noted that we are talking about DAC Rosu Domnesc 2014 – wine of the first harvest processed by Vinaria DAC. Moreover, it got the silver medal at the Lyon International Competition` 2018 in France and later consolidated the success at the London Wine Competition` 2018 in Great Britain.
Earlier, one of the winery founders, Constantin Furculita, told me that his goal was to create something unique. That is why he, together with the winemaker, is working on blends and co-fermentations in a search for interesting combinations, including indigenous varieties. Are you interested? Then let’s try what conquered the French? As the 2014 yield has already been sold out, still available is DAC Rosu Domnesc 2015, another prize-winner at competitions: golden medals at International Wine Contest Bucharest` 2018, Concours Mondial de Bruxelles` 2019 and silver at International Wine Contest Bucharest` 2019.
DAC Rosu Domnesc 2015
The DAC Rosu Domnesc 2015 blend includes Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Feteasca Neagra (25%) and Merlot (25%). American oak barriques were used in forl aging (second fill). This lot was bottled in July 2018 suggesting that besides barrel aging for not less than 18 months, the wine has been in bottle aging for more than a year.
Color of the wine – deep ruby, the rim around the glass goes more into dark red. Glass rotation leaves opaque legs.
First nose delivers sweetness of overripe black berries. To be on the safe side, I poured the wine into a decanter and left out for an hour. This opened the aromas of black wild cherry, black pepper, dried plum, cinnamon. After a while it provides notes of black currant berries, menthol and earthy tinges.
In taste black bitter cherry with a light fleur of cinnamon, the finish has a vanilla tinge. Strength – 14.5%. An interesting wine, it is no wonder that it was enjoyed by the fancy French and Belgians.
DAC Legendar 2016
This is a classical Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon – 60% and Merlot – 40%. 18-months of aging in French and Moldovan oak barrels (225 L), second fill. The wine DAC Legendar 2016 was bottled in September 2018, also suggesting more than one year of bottle aging.
Color of the wine – dark ruby, the rim – bright ruby, revealing its youth.
First nose: black berries. Bordeaux blends should clearly be allowed to open up under oxygen, so it advisable to aerate the wine using a decanter or an aerator.
The wine leaves opaque legs on the glass. The aroma has a little black nightshade and “fresh meat”, but these aromas pass on quite quickly. After, come out the plum, a little black pepper, air-dried cherry, black currant, fine aroma of violet, blackthorn, coffee and a tinge of caramel. A little later – a note of ginger evolves from hardly discernible into quite marked. Getting back to the decanter in 1 hour and 45 minutes, I find in the wine aroma new aromas – tobacco and earth against air-dried cherry and dried plum.
DAC Legendar 2016 has a quite interesting flavor with soft tannins and fresh acidity. There is a hint of chokeberry and coffee tinge. Letting the wine stay in the decanter makes its flavor more berry-led, soft and less astringent, so take the effort to pour full-bodied red wines at least in a pitcher, if a decanter is not available. The finish – a tinge of black chocolate. Smooth, despite 14% alcohol. DAC Legendar 2016 in a nutshell, is a “benign wine”.
Of the best grapes
The grapes used for DAC wines are grown primarily in the Causeni and Stefan-Voda regions, selected from the best, – says the company’s winemaker Mihail Sorokinskiy. – Our goal is to attain the best quality of our wines, to make them smooth, but showing the oak aging tinges at the same time. That does not mean, however, that this proportion of varieties will be the same in every vintage. It may change depending on the ripeness of the grapes, because we need to maintain a constant quality that we define by tasting”.
At this moment in time, Vinaria DAC continues the construction of a big cellar. The winemaking facility has already been set up. Even a small bottling line has been procured. Earlier, the wines were bottled in a mobile line that was procured to the Small Wine Producers Association by the Moldova Competitiveness Project funded by USAID and the Government of Sweden. One item that is still being rented from the Association is the capsule applicator. During the 2019 season the winery processed 70 tons of grapes (75 tons in 2018), producting about 50 thousand bottles of wine.
In Moldova, Vinaria-DAC wines may be found in Metro, “№1” and Kaufland supermarket chains, also present in many restaurants.
