{"id":31423,"date":"2026-10-08T14:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T14:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/?p=31423"},"modified":"2026-10-23T14:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T14:44:40","slug":"why-has-casa-vinicola-luca-become-the-best-small-wine-producer-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/why-has-casa-vinicola-luca-become-the-best-small-wine-producer-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Has “Casa Vinicola Luca” Become the Best Small Wine Producer of 2026?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The \u201cWine Creator Trophy\u201d (Trofeul Creatorului de Vin), established for small wineries, has been awarded for the second year running. At the official opening of National Wine Day` 2026, the award went to the family-owned winery \u201cCasa Vinicola Luca\u201d, based in Cricova.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Previously, its founder, winemaker Ion Luca, had been named \u201cBest Winemaker of 2024\u201d and awarded the medal named after Petru Ungureanu, who is considered the patriarch of Moldovan winemaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ion Luca believes that several factors most likely contributed to \u201cCasa Vinicola Luca\u201d receiving the award. First and foremost were the efforts to promote Moldova as a wine-producing country, which helped open the South Korean market to Moldovan wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A few years ago, when I was the only one on the Korean market, things were difficult for me. Today, wines from 12 Moldovan wineries are sold there, represented by seven importers. This means that it is no longer just one company marketing Moldovan wine, but seven. And my wines are selling better. In this way, we help one another, promote one another, and grow together. That is how a successful project emerged in Korea,\u201d the winemaker noted.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCasa Vinicola Luca\u201d is now making progress in Norway, where the alcohol market is regulated by a state monopoly and sales are conducted through its network of stores. Gaining access to this network is extremely difficult, particularly for imported products. However, the winery has found a \u201cstar\u201d partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second factor is the promotion of indigenous grape varieties and varieties developed through new Moldovan breeding programs. From the very beginning of his own winemaking operation, Ion decided to give these varieties special attention and has been doing his utmost to produce as much as possible from them. One example is the Viorica grape variety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

I have made a dry \u201cViorica\u201d wine, used it in a blend, produced a sparkling wine by \u2018Charmat\u2019 method, and made a still Late Harvest wine,\u201d my interlocutor continues. \u201cIn 2025, I began working with Florichica. This is my next project. From the first harvest, I made a dry wine that became our best-selling white wine. In addition, I included Florichica in the \u201cFemme Incredible\u201d blend, together with Feteasca Regala and Viorica. This means that we already have two products made from Florichica. I have great faith in this variety, and I believe that Moldovan winemakers have a chance to achieve at least the same level of success with Florichica as they have with Viorica. That is why I will certainly try all the experiments I have carried out with Viorica with Florichica as well.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The third factor is the development of wine tourism. According to Ion, \u201cCasa Vinicola Luca\u201d has completed its investment programme for the winery and tourism facilities. Two tasting rooms are available to welcome visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A plot of land next to the winery was also acquired, cleared, and prepared to host a fairly large event, \u201cFeteasca Run\u201d, which took place a week before National Wine Day. The race started at \u201cCasa Vinicola Luca\u201d, then continued to the \u201cRadacini Wines\u201d winery, the underground galleries of \u201cCricova\u201d, and the vineyards, before returning to the starting point. A celebration was held there, attended by 250 people. There was enough space, glassware, wine, and food for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the future, the plan is to build a wine cellar and a restaurant on this site.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cWine Creator Trophy\u201d (Trofeul Creatorului de Vin), established for small wineries, has been awarded for the second year running. At the official opening of National Wine Day` 2026, the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Why Has \"Casa Vinicola Luca\" Become the Best Small Wine Producer of 2026? - Wine and Spirits","description":"The \u201cWine Creator Trophy\u201d (Trofeul Creatorului de Vin), established for small wineries, has been awarded for the second year running. At the official opening of"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":41,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":7134,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[7136,7134,7137,7139,7138,7135],"class_list":["post-31423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wineries","tag-best-winemaker-of-2024","tag-casa-vinicola-luca","tag-the-best-small-wine-producer-of-2026","tag-trofeul-creatorului-de-vin","tag-wine-creator-trophy","tag-winemaker-ion-luca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31424,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31423\/revisions\/31424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wine-and-spirits.md\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}