Organic Wines

In order to produce ecologically pure wine it is necessary to use organic grapes. The wine makers of “Acorex Wine Holding” are setting very high standards for their partners – the viticulturists of “Corten”, “Valea Perjei”, “Tvardita”, “Bejghiozet”, “Baslanti”, “Gaidar” and “Cafador”.  Today the vineyards are worked in accordance with the SGS standards of “production of organic grapes”, which is similar to the ISO 9000:2000 quality management system. The registration is performed accordingly: absolutely each process is confirmed by written documents, which require a a high management level. For this “SGS-Moldova” hired experts from Australia and New Zealand.

Due to the dry climate, and fairly simple plant protection and disease-control practices, almost all vineyards are ecologically pure (our viticulturists use only the allowed chemicals).  However, only vineyards being under the supervision of “SGS” can be certified. From the other hand, the vineyards that are not under the supervision of “SGS” are also processed according to the same standards due to the fact that it is the only way Moldovans are used to work. Due to this the “Acorex Wine” company receives ecologically pure grapes regardless the fact that just a part of it is certified.

There are some particularities in the technology of production of ecologically pure wine. The usual wines are prepared with the use of sulphurous anhydrite, which prevents oxidation; the ecologically pure wines use a decreased dosage. But the wine-makers of “Acorex Wine” found a way to reduce the use of this antioxidant to the minimum: the concentration of sulphurous anhydrite in the final product is now three times less (!) compared to the minimum level of the standard rate.

The production technology of organic wine is oriented towards diminishing of wine’s interaction with oxygen, which causes the loss of the most fragile elements – fragrance carriers. There’s a high risk of damaging the quality of the product during the bottling process. That’s why there are many issues that don’t depend on the skillfulness of the wine-makers; an important role plays the equipment, which makes possible the delivery of the organic wine to the bottle non-oxidized. In 2004 “Acorex Wine Holding” purchased the most modern bottling equipment manufactured by “Bertolazo” company (370 thousands Euro). For comparison: at many enterprises the entire line costs 120 thousands Euro. The bottling process takes place in nitrogen atmosphere. It is interesting that in order to bottle one liter of wine you’ll need three liters of nitrogen.

When our company started to learn the technology of organic wine production we introduced the term of organoleptic stability (issues related to physical-chemical and of the micro-bial stability were solved a long time ago). It means that the wine should maintain its freshness, aroma and smoothness of the taste in the bottle for two years long. For example the especially sensitive to all issues white wine when recently bottled should not make a difference with a similar wine bottled six, twelve, eighteen or even twenty four months ago. This represents the skillfulness of the wine-maker. If the wine that was bottled two years ago didn’t disappoint you then the bottling was done according to all standards.

Like the viticulturists we spread the contemporary management, that was implemented at the certified section of the enterprise, on the entire production. And today all our products are made according to the technology of the ecologically pure wine. This became the style and the philosophy of all the employees of the company and it is our most important achievement in the development of the organic production. The implementiation of high standards lead to the improvement of the quality of our wines. The awards that we were conferred at the international contests are the best prove of this. Just in the first half of 2005 our products have been awarded gold and silver medals at such prestigious international contests like “Chardonnay du Monde” (France), “Mondial de Bruxelles” (Belgium), “Vinalies Internationales” (France), “Vinitaly” (Italy), “Challenge International du Vin” (France).

But this way is very long and difficult. Five years ago we received the certificate that the wine is made of ecologically pure grapes. The transition from unorganic to organic took us another two years. And only two years ago it was finally certified as 100 % organic wine.