Antinori – great legacy, new winery
Within the last few years, several foreign investors decided to invest a large amount of money into the Romanian viticulture. The investments prove the existing potential in this area. The family of the Italian Marquise Antinori is part of the group formed of investors who are thrilled by the Romanian lands. The family has a wine producing history of 26 generations, starting with 1385 when Giovanni di Piero Antinori joined the “Arte Fiorentina dei Vinattieri”. The family owns shares in eight wineries in Italy, three in California, one in Chile, one in Hungary, one in Malta and Vitis Metamorfosis from Dealu Mare in Romania.
The story has started with Giancorrado Ulrich visiting Romania in 2011 He currently is the President of the company and has a great passion for wines. He has tasted several Romanian wines, was thrilled by their quality and after returning to Italy, he told Marquis Antinori about the wines he has tasted. His first visit was followed by several other visits to vineyards, where they met the oenologist Fiorenzo Rista who already had a few years of experience in Romania. After extended studies, they selected the Vadu Săpat vineyards from Dealu Mare and started investing in the vineyard and wine cellar. Starting with 2013, the Metamorfosis Wines are made of grapes harvested from own crops, located on three fields and processed in their own wine cellar, with the latest technologies. The wine cellar was set up in an old communist building, but it was modernized and extended to comply with the elegance standards of the cellars owned by the family.
The most known wine produced by Fiorenzo Rista for Vitis Metamorfosis is Cantvs Primvs – Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, an intense red wine, ripened for a period of 18 months in barique, with intense red and black fruit flavor, strong tannins, vanilla and liquorices tones; a complex and heavy wine. To complete the range, the 2012 production of Feteasca Neagră was launched; a wine that is still fresh and has intense flavors of wood amassed during ripening. After an aeration of one or two hours, the over ripped juicy fruit flavors stand out.
The Metamorfosis Vineyards range is a collection of young, friendly wines, including the Rose and the wine-blend Sauvignon Blanc with Fetească Albă which represent the ideal wines for the warm period of the year. Moreover, the absolute novelty of the producer is the purchase of a mansion built in 1920 in Năeni village that, after the refurbishment and renewal works, will be transformed into a enotourism centre at international standards.
