Official website and tour organization: https://vinuridecomrat.md/
“Vinuri de Comrat” is one of the oldest wineries located in southern Moldova. For over 120 years, Comrat winemakers have preserved and passed down the classic traditions of making unique southern Moldovan grape wines, which undoubtedly give Comrat wines natural freshness, elegance, and drinkability. Today, Vinuri de Comrat is a modern processing complex with a closed cycle of 5,000 tons, from grape production, processing, and winemaking to bottling, using modern innovative technologies. The plant’s portfolio includes over 50 product lines. There is also a network of 11 branded stores selling the company’s wines.
History of Vinuri de Comrat
In 1895, the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire, Mr. S.Y. Witte, issued a decree to build 14 state wine warehouses in the Bessarabian province for the production of 40-degree table wine (vodka). One of these plants was built in Comrat. It included four facilities: a production room for making 40-degree table wine with cellars for storing products, a warehouse, housing for the manager, and a barracks for workers.
In 1897, the production of 40-degree table wine began. A stable was also built to provide transportation of products. After World War II, a winery was added to the existing facilities for grape processing. This gave the enterprise a new lease on life, restructured it, and began the production and release of grape wine.
In 1969, an agro-industrial complex was created based on the Comrat winery, which included 15 state farms and eight wineries. This agro-industrial complex processed up to 80,000 tons of grapes per season.
In 1995, as a result of privatization, the Comrat winery was transformed into SA “Vinuri de Comrat,” located in southern Moldova in the Gagauzia region.
Today, it is a modern production enterprise that processes 5-6 thousand tons of grapes and bottles more than 3 million bottles of wine annually. The products are supplied to over 20 countries worldwide. The company produces more than 50 series of wines, both varietal and blended, where European grape varieties are perfectly combined with autochthonous ones historically grown only in Moldova and Romania. There is also a network of branded stores.
The pride of Vinuri de Comrat winemakers is the Plai Moldova series, the 98 hectares series, Bessarabia Provans, Detox Cabernet-Sauvignon, the autochthonous Uzor series, aged in oak barrels and produced following all modern winemaking technologies. Annually, these wines are awarded (gold and silver medals) at renowned international competitions such as DWWA, Mundus Vini, Mondial de Bruxelles, and others, with 7,000 to 20,000 wine samples from around the world. In the last two years, more than 70 gold and silver medals have been won.
Comrat is unique due to its population, the Gagauz people, who have Turkic roots and speak a Turkic language but are Orthodox Christians. It is a world of unique traditions, where Eastern Europe’s unforgettable autochthonous dishes and Eastern hospitality intersect.
The company’s pride is, first and foremost, its people, who truly love their work, their land, their homeland, and the wines they make. Therefore, each wine that begins its life from a grape bunch at Vinuri de Comrat is surrounded by care and absorbs the love, patience, labor, and enthusiasm of the enologists. The company owns over 300 hectares of vineyards in a holding with five farms located in the “Valul-lui-Traian” wine zone.
Currently, of the 14 state wine warehouses built in the Bessarabian province, only the 19th-century Comrat wine warehouse, now AO Vinuri de Comrat, has been preserved on the territory of Moldova. It is undoubtedly of interest today as one of the oldest architectural-industrial historical monuments of the 19th century.
An important goal is also to preserve the historical and architectural monument in its original form. Active work is currently underway to restore and return the historical-industrial buildings of the 19th century to their original appearance.
Undoubtedly, the pride of Vinuri de Comrat is the tourist wine estate, where visitors note the true homely coziness of the reception. When the wine and food are made in the same place, on the same land, by the same hands, it creates an unforgettable marriage of taste, emotions, and memories!
