Solara, Orange, Viile Timisului, Romania, 2022

Producer Profile

Back in 1988, three families decided to invest in a winery in Romania, starting with 650 hectares of slightly unloved vineyards and a rusty, once state-owned winery.

Yet Englishman Philip Cox and his Romanian wife Elvira, have turned the Cramele Recas Estate into the most successful winery in Romania. Recas are now recognised globally for their impressive scale and breadth of fascinating wines, including natural and orange wine from organic grapes. Despite the scale the emphasis is on making good wines that over-deliver, and as a result they’ve struck on a magic formula that has seen sales and demand boom. Vineyards are a combination of evolved plantings from 1447 and more recent planting, whilst the winery has seen significant investment and boasts state of the art facilities where innovation thrives. Recas are in every way a modern, dynamic winery, whose open minded approach and quality sets them apart … a winery you really can’t ignore.

Viticulture

A mountainous terrain surrounds the vineyards and dominates the landscape.

Winemaking

Refreshing like a white wine, with the complexity of red wine. This orange wine is made by leaving the grape skins and seeds in contact with the pressed juice, creating a deep orange-hued finish. The wine ferments naturally without the addition of yeasts, sulphur or any other additions. The different varieties are then blended and before a natural cold stabilisation, and bottled unfiltered and unfined.

Oak Ageing

No oak ageing

Tasting Note

Dark straw in colour with orange hints, the nose is a delicate mélange of quince, poire william and a hint of vanilla. A complex and structured wine, with elegant but discreet fruit flavours of stone fruits, backed up with a powerful tannin structure and long finish. A natural minimal intervention wine which is well balanced and structured yet pure and incredibly fresh.

Food Matching

Hard and semi hard cheese, tuna steak and chicken.