DAVINO Winery-The Premium Wine Emblem
We had been wanting to get to DAVINO for a long time...we had read many beautiful and interesting things about the winery, the local people, and the wines produced here. After the mandatory appointment to visit the winery and wine tasting, the beginning of April 2023 offered us the long-awaited opportunity.
The spring had not yet come into its own, the wind blew strongly over the vines' shoulders, the sun was hiding behind a whitish cloud, our thoughts were quivering between uncertainty and curiosity...
In this indefinite state, I met Mrs. Irinel MACICI, a special person with a lot of charm, who "has wine flowing through her veins." Born and raised in Dealu Mare, in a family with a tradition in viticulture and winemaking, Irinel MACICI went to the most important vineyards in the world, and spent ten years in South Africa, where her brother, the renowned winemaker Răzvan Macici, is also located.
The DAVINO winery, set in a picturesque, dreamlike setting, as in a movie, proudly looks out to all four horizons among the rows of vines and calls the wine lover to listen to the story...
When a good wine trader and a top oenologist of the 90s compete in tandem, the result can only be brilliant.
Thanks to this team that made a career in the world of local wine, the DAVINO brand has become an emblem of premium products.
For two decades, the DAVINO Winery, owned by Dan Balaban and oenologist Bogdan Costăchescu, has been producing wines that bear one of the most famous brands from the Dealul Mare Vineyard.
In the commune of Ceptura, both of them run a prosperous business, which means 68 ha of their own vineyard and 19 ha worked in lease, as well as a modern winery to which another one will be added, worth 1.7 million euros, intended for red wine.
The Davino wines are mainly sophisticated blends, but the winery can be proud of making two wines from the most valuable Romanian varieties: Fetească Albă and Fetească Neagră.
Davino has positioned itself in the high-end wine segment, being a pioneer in this direction.
Enjoying a terroir with a well-defined identity and a vineyard between 10 and 60 years old, this producer stands out for the typicality of wines made from pure Romanian varieties.
All this information was provided to us by Mrs. Irinel Macici, who presented us in detail the winery and the special process through which Davino wines are born (picked at night, grapes kept overnight in special cold rooms, extended period of contact with the yeasts)
Our group of 7 wine tourism lovers was then invited to the wine tasting room. Equipped with everything necessary for a premium wine tasting, the room, decorated in a classic Romanian style, integrates perfectly into the architecture of the location. Then the wine started flowing…I must tell you that Mrs. Irinel asked me to help her open and decant the wine bottles, taking advantage of my profession as a sommelier. And the wife helped Mrs. Macici arrange the plates. It was a pleasure to be part of the DAVINO family!
Accompanied by cold, light platters, which went perfectly with the wine and the atmosphere of the event, 6 varieties of wine were tasted - 3 white and 3 red: Davino Vast Alb 2022 (Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Albă and Riesling Italian, without maturation or aging); Domaine Ceptura Blanc 2022 (Sauvignon Blanc, Fetească Albă and Riesling Italico); Iacob Alb 2021 (Sauvignon Blanc & Fetească Albă); Purpura Valahica 2017 (Fetească Neagră); Domaine Ceptura Rouge Elevé 2018 (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Fetească Neagră) and of course, after a ½ hour preliminary decantation, the star of the tasting: Davino Flamboyant 2017 (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Fetească Neagră), a special wine, the winery's top range, about which I have to tell you something.
It is produced by selectively picking grapes from the most valuable plots of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Fetească Neagră, the vines having an average age of about 40 years. The 3 varieties that enter the assortment are vinified separately, parcel by parcel.
Davino believes that wine is not to be drunk, but to be lived.
We would have liked time to stand still and our meeting with Davino to last longer...the host, Mrs. Irinel, was a top-class host, whom we thank for her involvement and passion.
The DAVINO logo contains a glass with an open eye drawn on it, and below it are two very well-chosen Latin words: Dei Donum, meaning God's Gift!...and indeed, at Davino, God has gifted a terroir where people with grace produce some of the most valuable Romanian wines from the grapes here.
I can't end without quoting from the home page of the Davino website, what wine represents in the conception of the people here:
“Through wine, nature records the memory of a year of events.
Subtle and fleeting events for some: wind, rain, sun. Essential conditions for those who have the knowledge to capitalize on them in a special wine: both creation and the effort of an act of self-transcendence, repeated year after year”.
A creed, an unwritten law that is followed with passion, a dream come true, which calls wine lovers to (re)discover a magical place in Dealul Mare, where it is worth reaching !