​CHISINAU WINES&SPIRITS CONTEST TO BE HELD UNDER NEW BRAND

The international event Chisinau Wines&Spirits Contest will be held in the Moldovan capital on February 15-16 under a new brand – Black Sea Region WineS&Spirits Contest within the Moldovan Winemaking Week in the Palace of the Republic. The event was organized by the company Poliproject Exhibitions, jointly with Moldova’s Union of Oenologists.

Poliproject Exhibitions representative Iulia Talmazan said in an interview to Infotag that the change of the brand is due to the fact that the contest reached a new level.

“Before, the contest was conducted in Chisinau, while now it will be each year conducted in new place. Last year, the contest has for the first time been conducted under the brand Black Sea Region in Batumi (Georgia)”, she said.

According to her, a record number of winemaking companies will participate in the contest – 48 Moldovan enterprises and 29 from Romania, Ukraine, Georgia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Italy, Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan. Participants presented samples of 446 varieties of wines and strong alcoholic beverages.

The aim of the contest is to preserve winemaking traditions of the Black Sea region, to support the production and promotion of wine. According to the contest results, a Big golden medal will be awarded, as well as golden and silver medals. The contest will be conducted under the auspices of the International Vine and Wine Organization [Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin, OIV]. For the first time, exhibition visitors will have the opportunity to taste competitive samples, for which a special zone will be organized.

The jury will include OIV Director General Jean-Marie Aurand, as well as experts from Korea, China, Romania, Georgia, Czechia and Italy.

The contest is being conducted according to the OIV regulations, which makes it one of the most exigent to the quality of competitive samples. The assessment will be anonymous, on a scale of 100 points. With all this, only 30% of samples are awarded, while the assessment commission is 70% made of foreign experts.

Within the Winemaking Week, there will be a section of equipment, materials and technologies for wine production from 25 producers from Moldova, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Romania. Around 20 Moldovan companies among which Cricova, Vinaria Bostavan, Branesti and Vinaria Purcari will present their goods. Also, wines of Protected Geographical Indications Codru and Stefan-Voda will be presented.

Infotag’s dossier: At the last year contest, three Big golden medals, 22 golden and 10 silver medals were awarded. Two main prizes were given to Georgian winery Sarajishvili, one more was given to Vinarske Zavody Topolcianky from Slovakia. Moldovan wineries Lion-Gri and Vinuri Ialoveni were awarded with golden medals.