Domeniul Coroanei Segarcea – 20 Years Under the Sign of Royalty
On May 10, 2002, right on the Royalty Day, the last act of the privatization process of the former IAS Segarcea was signed, temporary heir of the work founded by the Royal House of Romania in 1884. Domeniul Coroanei Segarcea was born as one of the 12 domains given in administration of the Royal House, to cover its expenses. For 20 years, Domeniul project has been reborn in full consensus with the values and principles of the Royal House, continuing the development model implemented by His Majesty King Carol I.
Between 1884 and 1908, a nursery was operating here to support the replantation of the phylloxera-affected areas, where about 60 grape varieties grew. The vineyard itself was born between 1906 and 1908, when the winery was built, being at that time the first vineyard structured according to scientific criteria – soil analysis, climate, exposure, etc
Nowadays, we have restored the vineyard with the same structure of grape varieties – red, white and aromatic – and produce wine from no less than 17 grape varieties, a diversification quite hard to find, even in the case of much larger areas.
At the time of its construction, the Domain had one of the most modern wineries in the world – it was the first building with a reinforced concrete structure in Romania, with glass fermentation tanks, to keep intact the native aromas of grapes, and a gravitational structure – technological flow vertically having the same role, preserving flavors. Since 2002, the winery has grown tenfold but has kept all the details and has made it special since its inception – from the architectural style to the double walls that thermally insulate the interior of the winery or the gravitational nature – a vertical flow of production, meant to protect the aromas of the grapes. The glass basins have been replaced by the most advanced fermentation vessels so that it remains one of the best-equipped wineries in this corner of the world.
After 2002, when the first bottles were produced, Domeniul Coroanei Segarcea launched only wines that, more subtly or more directly, have marked history under the sign of royalty. Elite and Prestige, the first commercially available ranges, talked about the need to recognize and appreciate the expertise of specialists, to invest in knowledge and experience – the sure recipe for gaining public recognition.
Launched in 2011, a year after we regained the quality of official provider of the Royal House, the Princess Margaret collection, created at the request of the Crown Custodian, unveiled two jewels, made to express Segarcea’s terroir with maximum fidelity. Subsequent editions, all produced exclusively in exceptional years, have become an international multi-award winning brand and one of Romania’s landmark collections.
In 2012 we launched the Minima Moralia collection, a reminder that life must remain permanently driven by moral values, and that even what we call minor virtues – Respect, Gratitude, Giving, Hope, Honor or Sincerity – remain essential for preservation of heritage and humanity. The occasional self-denial, in favor of the good of another or the general good, is one of the lessons that the Royal House of Romania has taught throughout history through hundreds of examples, from taking the country out of a late Middle Ages to investing (from own resources) in literacy and higher education.
Later, the Vardo collection (a word in the Romani language that means wagon or caravan) has long sparked controversy over integration and education. For Domeniu, the Vardo range marked the honoring of a historical relationship between the vineyard and the local community of gypsies, who worked in the vineyard – and found a protected place here, in the Second World War – from the time of royalty to the present.
The Symphony blend marked a point where the vineyard began to emerge from adolescence and approach maturity. Knowing in detail the potential of each grape, we ventured to create the most complex blend in Romania – eight varieties of red grapes in a magnum bottle. The label represents the first measures from Symphony no. 1 of George Enescu, Queen Elizabeth’s favorite and protégé.
In 2019, we decided to concentrate the wines obtained from local varieties in a unique collection. Marama was born as a tribute brought equally to the popular tradition, which loads this object with symbols and history, as to the queens of Romania, who knew how to present to the world the treasures of our country with elegance and diplomacy.
The winery’s latest wine, Sărut, was launched in 2021 to celebrate Brâncuși Day. With a label inspired by the works of the great artist, the wine is a bow in front of the cultural symbols of Oltenia, which have meanwhile become universal values and follows the same path of promoting Romanian culture opened by the Royal House.
Twenty years have passed, during which time we have owned one of the most impressive wineries in Eastern Europe – as a historical heritage, also as facilities and quality of the wine. We promised that we would do everything as the founder and spiritual father of the winery, King Carol I, would have done, and today we can say with all our heart that His Majesty’s inspired model is still current and fully functional. We are entering a new stage, that of full maturity. We continue to work, innovate, or, where appropriate, return to ancient practices. We can state that, after a gradual abandonment in recent years, we have reached a low level of treatments in the vineyard, a choice whose consequences we observe daily in the explosive increase of biodiversity and redefining the natural balance. Along with the already established stingily use of sulphites in wine stabilization, this will help us get closer to the pure, unaltered expression of the land of Segarcea, a name which, by the way, “means the land of dreams.”
Thanks to everyone who has been close to us over the years!
The team of Domeniul Coroanei Segarcea
Cornelia and Mihai Anghel