CASE STUDY: ROMANIAN VERSUS INTERNATIONAL GRAPEVINE VARIETIES AUTHORIZED IN 2021 FOR PDO WINES IN WEST ROMANIA

Abstract

This paper represents a not at all gratifying perspective for the future and for the chance of viticulture and vinification in western Romania and, in extenso, in the whole country, seen through the prism of a chaotic choice of the structure of varieties from vineyards destined to obtain wines with PDO = protected designation of origin, established through reconversion / restructuring programs supported with European structural funds. The zoning of the grapevine varieties, legislated in Romania, represented a small directing lever towards high-performance plantations, but it was far from becoming a guideline. Research in recent years, in conjunction with regional and global climate changes, demonstrates the inefficiency of choosing varieties by empirical methods, by market requirements at a given time, by fashion or commercial recommendations. The share of local wine grape varieties and their presence in the wine market in their most elaborate form, is far from competitive, which brings many questions for future planning, in the limited conditions, given by European Commission politics, for increasing the grapevines growing area in Romania.