Dealu Mare Vineyard
“Wine’s Stone”, as Dealu Mare vineyard is known, has an old wine-growing tradition, as confirmed archaeological diggings. First written documents about the existence of grape-vine crops in this region dates back to XIVth and XVth centuries. Foreign records tell it used to produce a wine with a “buttery, yet with a big and lasting taste”, comparing it to Europe’s best wines.
This vineyard was well-renowned for its red-wine grape-variety crops. Nicolae Iorga documented in a Slavic missionary’s notes, who went by the name of Bacsici, saying that “the most important vineyards of Muntenia during Constantin Brâncoveanu’s time (1688-1724) were those around Dealu Mare, nearby Ploieşti”. Even in that time, Dealu Mare vineyard’s wines were renowned through their profusion and exceptional qualities, being highly requested even abroad. The vineyards remained most renowned for the Feteasca Neagra native grape-variety.
Pietroasa Vineyard
Somewhere around IVth century, in Pietroasele, Atanaric Visigoth king hid his treasure, known as the Pietroasele Treasure or the Petrossa Treasure. It is said that when this thesaurus was hidden by the Visigoths for fear of the Huns, grape-vine crops were an important element in these lands.
Owing to the tradition and the climate exceptionally suited for grape-growing, in Pietroasele, the first wine-growing nursery of Romania’s modern epoch was established, in 1893, followed by the establishment of a grafting school, in 1894. Another event in this vineyard’s history, as well as Romanian viticulture’s history, occurred in 1924, when the Pietroasa Viticulture and Oenology Station was established, the first profile research unit in the country.