Domeniile Sahateni, the winery that Aurelia Visinescu founded together with her associate, Steve Cacenco, is celebrating 20 years of existence in Dealu Mare.
The festive moment took place in the elegant decor provided by Snagov Mansion and brought together members of the winery team, commercial partners, representatives of distributors, journalists, members of wine lovers’ associations and people who accompanied Aurelia Visinescu in her journey over time.
Obviously emotional, Aurelia Visinescu reminded the guests of the key moments in the evolution of the winery and assured the guests that the story of the Sahateni Estates will continue, there is energy, desire and there are ideas for the coming years.
Also called "Lady Feteasca neagra", Aurelia Visinescu invited her guests to taste the 10th anniversary edition of the wine "Anima – 3 Fete Negre" (series 009 – from the harvests of 2017, 2019, 2020) with the original label, bearing the silhouettes of the 3 rebellious girls, probably alter-egos of the winemaker.
The surprise of the evening was the invitation addressed to all those present to leave a message on a barrel that will then be filled with wine that will be served at the next important anniversary of the winery, in 10 years.
About the Sahateni Estates
Domeniile Sahateni Winery owns 82 ha of vines in the Fintesti area of Dealu Mare and has a production capacity of 1,000,000 bottles per season. The vineyard grows both Romanian varieties – Feteasca Alba, Tamaioasa Romaneasca, Feteasca Neagra, as well as international varieties: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The oenologist of the winery is Aurelia Visinescu, who signs the range of wines produced here, among which we mention: Anima, Promessa, Karakter, Artisan and Nomad. The wines are mainly distributed in the country, but there is also a growing interest in exports to the EU, USA, Japan.
Aurelia Visinescu was also one of the first wine producers to join Carrefour Romania’s “Deschidem Vinul Romanesc / We Open the Romanian Wine” program, for which she developed two exclusive wine labels – Etika (Feteasca neagra and a fumee blend of Chardonnnay and Sauvignon blanc) and Distinct (four wines – Cabernet Sauvignon, Feteasca alba + Tamaioasa romaneasca, Rose Pinot grigio + Syrah, as well as a sweet Tamaioasa romaneasca).
The winemaking style combines techniques from the Old World with those from the New World, and the wines are produced in small batches. Most of the wines are dry, with the exception of a dessert wine.
About Aurelia Visinescu, the child who always had to be first
Dreams are born according to the size of desires. And Aurelia’s first great wish was to be able to ride around the village, when she grows up, with the same coach (in her childhood dreams it appeared more like a royal carriage) that she had seen used by the agronomist in the village. But, to become an agronomist, she had to have very good results in school. Said and done – year after year she won the first prize, and the year she only managed a second prize, she was so ashamed that she wanted to move to another school.
Her efforts were rewarded by being admitted to the Horticulture Faculty in Bucharest, but here she realized that she was not learning everything he wanted to learn. The agronomist’s coach was a dream she had grown out of. The exact sciences that she had loved at school seemed distant, and the passion to work in the middle of nature was suffocated by the city. But, just as she was about to abandon Horticulture and take the exams for Law School, science became once again a central element and, fortunately, wine also appeared in the landscape, with all that its implications, from geology in biochemistry. The specialization in Winemaking followed, and the story began to unfold.
She finished college in a world of men, where there were no women oenologists, but she was never intimidated by this. She worked harvests from Nazarcea, Murfatlar, Sahateni, up to Severin. She became a brand in the wine world while working for Halewood Winery, where she interacted for the first time with an Australian oenologist, an encounter that would leave an important mark on the way she would approach wine in the future.
If you want to know more about Aurelia Visinescu, watch the dedicated episode of the Wines of Romania podcast, here.
