Good is the Jidvei wine

Because none is like it,

You are both count and emperor

When you drink it from a castle...

Starting from these inspired lyrics, our journey into the world of wine reaches the Transylvanian lands of the Târnave la Jidvei vineyard. More preciseley from a place where the history offers us a wonderful story

The Bethlen-Haller Castle from Cetatea de Baltă is the Jidvei wines symbol, a charming place where time flows naturally, like a good wine that fills the cups when stories are told and lived with loved ones.

The beginnings of the story of wines that draw their sap from the heart of Transylvania are lost in the mists of time.

Herodot mentioned in his writings that the Geto-Dacians from these lands were renowned winegrowers, and in the feudal era Transylvania was called Weinland - the land of Wine.

Like our story to be fully understood, we need to go into the history of the castle...

The Bethlen-Haller Castle was built by the father of the Chancellor of Transylvania, Miklos Bethlen, as a hunting and pleasure castle between 1560-1624 in Renaissance style, with four towers located in the four corners, modeled after the castles of the Loire Valley.

Over the centuries, the castle has seen periods of glory and decline. It has been inherited, donated, lost to the books, confiscated by the authorities, bought back and renovated, having over 45 owners, and today it retains the names of the first and last families who owned the castle.The family of Count Haller lived in the castle until nationalization. During the communist period, the castle belonged to I.A.S. Jidvei, where the champagne department operated, and living rooms for workers were arranged in the towers. This was a "dark" period in the history of the castle, when significant changes and destruction occurred.

After 1989, the Haller family reclaimed and won the castle, and in 2001 it was purchased by the Jidvei Group.

Thus, in 2003 a complex renovation and restoration process began, aiming to restore the medieval atmosphere of the past.

Now, Jidvei is the largest producer of wines with Controlled Designation of Origin in Romania and owns the largest vineyard plantation in the country and in Europe with a single owner, which extends over an area of ​​2,500 hectares.

The Necșulescu family (Claudiu-father together with his two daughters-Ana and Maria) continues the history of Jidvei, a business with the largest 100% Romanian business.

Today, Jidvei means respect for people, for the art of wine and for the winemaking tradition of Transylvania.

When we arrived at the castle on a cloudy day of June 2023, it was bustling and everyone was ready...a video introducing the castle and an advertising spot presenting the accommodation conditions here were being filmed.

All of this can mean an unforgettable experience for those who choose to spend the night here.

By the way, the castle preserves both the main Renaissance architectural elements and some of the Baroque ones, dating from the renovation in 1773.

The current owners have also added various decorations that give the interior of the building a medieval air. Overall, the interior of the castle offers an eclectic artistic experience, as a result of which the visitor can feel the evolution of this building over four centuries: from the Renaissance vaults and frames, to the Baroque elements, to the modern sandstone and even contemporary replicas of medieval armor.

In the main reception hall of the Castle there is a stone portal, carved in the Renaissance style, which decorates the entrance to the Clock Tower. An oak staircase, built in a perfect spiral, without any metal joints only in wooden nails, provided access to the upper levels until the construction of the frontispiece at the end of the 18th century by Count Haller. There are only a few wooden staircases from that period in Europe, this one being a unique piece. The walls of the staircase house host a unique peasant clocks and pendulums collection dating from the early 19th to the early 20th centuries.

This collection of clocks belongs to Mr. Claudiu Necșulescu, starting with the 7 small wall clocks – symbolizing the first seven years at home – and continuing with a clock for each year of his life, this November being the 62nd.

It is said that through the bottom of this staircase one could enter a tunnel through which a carriage could be driven and which connected Bethlen-Haller Castle to Bethlen Castle from Sânmiclăuș, located 15 km away. A beautiful legend, but difficult to confirm.

The castle is surrounded by a defensive ditch that has never been filled with water, access being made via a bridge that can be raised when needed, being operated by a pulley, one of the few original elements that have survived over time.

Not far away from Bethlen-Haller Castle, in the village of Bălcaciu in the commune of Jidvei, there is one of the most beautiful fortified churches in Romania, built in the 15th century, in the Transylvanian Gothic style. Here, on one of the bells, there is engraved the Dragon with a woman's head, carrying grapes in its ears and having a tail made of vine leaves. This representative symbol, denotes an ancient ritual connection between the people of the area and the culture of the vine, is used in the visual identity of the Treasure Jidvei wine range.One of the wine tasting places from Jidvei winery is the castle cellar, which is a large wine tasting table. The cylindrical towers of the castle have been used to store old wines, and an the adjacent room has been set up for pickles storage.

After we visited the entire proprety, we were unable to participate at the wine teasting ( was not organized due to filming scheduled that day), but below can be seen the two wine teasting options.

Talking about the wines produced here, I feel compelled to mention the name of Dr. Ioan Buia - the chief oenologist of the Jidvei Group. For more than 20 years, the Jidvei wines have the imprint of a simple man with a complex and unique personality. A wine creator in the true sense of the word!

The castle domains have been developed and landscaped to be as attractive as possible from a tourist point of view. The complex includes a restaurant, a horse stud and riding center, a mini-farm with ostriches, pedigree chickens, rabbits, donkeys, and several vegetable greenhouses for the restaurant itself.

The end of our adventure at Bethlen-Haller Castle was spent in the presentation room of Bacchus drinks, where we enriched our wine cellar with two wines from the Premium category of the Jidvei winery: Owner's Choice Maria-Fetească Albă and Owner's Choice Ana-Sauvignon Blanc.

This was the story of the Jidvei estate. Only the presence of a wine enthusiast travlerer can discover and tell much better than I can, the legends, beauties and rich history of these wonderful places.

Looking at everything that has been built here by the passionate people who carry on the legend of wine from Târnave, we know that we are not wrong when we say: The people who sanctify the place never leave, they remain in our memory with all the beauty of their good soul, which will continue to bear fruit in time and beyond.