Near the city of Urlați, the Archdiocese of Bucharest established in 2009 the Agricultural Cooperative Via Domnului, which has an area of 42 hectares in Dealu Mare Vineyard and Jercălăi Monastery.
The history of the monastery wine begins in the eighteenth century on the grounds of the Virgin Mary Cloister, which belonged to the Verbila monastery. After the secularization of the monastery assets of 1863 during the reign of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the cloister was closed. The tradition of cultivating vines was resumed in 1956 when the Holy Mary - Cricov Cloister, also known as the Jercălăi Monastery, received a new spiritual breath by bringing a wooden church from Maramureș area (dated 1731). Since then, the liturgical wine used in the churches of the Archdiocese of Bucharest has been produced here.
A new winery, built according to European standards, produces the wine of the Via Domnului Winery, which produces 230,000 liters of wine annually. The cultivated grapes varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon, Feteasca Neagra, Merlot, Feteasca Regala, Muscat Otonel, Sauvignon Blanc.
The work and the attention to the details of the wine growers were rewarded by the awards obtained by Via Domnului Winery: the gold medal with Cabernet Sauvignon barrel aged - 2012 at the IWCB in 2014; with Merlot 2012 it obtained the gold medal at the Vinul.ro Excellence Awards in 2013 and with Feteasea Neagră - 2012 it obtained the silver medal at the Vinul.ro Excellence Awards in 2013.
If your curiosity pushes you, do not hesitate to taste the Via Domnului wine and you will not regret it.
Photo Credit: http://viadomnului.blogspot.com/
Alina Mafa
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