Novak Winery

Novak is a young Moldovan winery headed by winemaker Andrey Novak. He has his vineyards in the south of Moldova near the towns of Comrat, Tartaul and Ciobalaccia. Where his father grew the grapes for bulk wines, Andrey wants to make his own wines on a relatively small scale. It distinguishes itself from other Moldovan wineries by mainly focusing on (forgotten) native grape varieties. He has since bottled several wines made from forgotten Moldovan varieties and thus has breathed new life into them.

Andrey is trained as an economist. But the blood creeps where it can't. What do you do when you have a father in the wine world with a large arsenal of vineyards. Unlike his father, Andrey wanted to make the wines himself and not sell the grapes to large producers. Andrey wants a small, distinctive boutique winery. Before that, a winery with cellar and modern equipment was first built. Andrey has been making his wines there since 2016. Initially of international varieties, but in the meantime he has started to focus more and more on native grapes.

That actually happened by accident. He wanted vines when he had not received enough vines from France to plant an entire vineyard. In his own country he found a grape variety that was not very popular but which fascinated him because he had not heard of it before, the Alb de Onițcani. He decided on impulse to buy and plant sticks of this.

At first he wasn't sure what to do with the Alb de Onițcani. This grape ripens very late, until November, and still has a fairly high acidity. First he turned it into a wine matured in oak, but that turned out not to be a good idea. That is why the grapes are currently fermented in steel tanks.

Meanwhile, Andrey Novak also makes wine from the totally forgotten Floricica grape, in addition to more famous native grapes such as Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală and Rară Neagră. International grapes such as Pinot Noir, Merlot and Chardonnay also pass through Andrey's cellar. Novak makes different quality lines, from fresh, relatively light 'loafers' to wood-aged wines that can mature for years.