The producer
Carastelec Winery opened in 2011 in Carastelec village, Sălaj County, North West Transylvania, as the first facility in Romania designed and built from the ground up for traditional method sparkling wine. No still wine was planned. Every press, tank, and gyropalette was ordered for second-fermentation sparkling, a commitment that left no alternative if the market pushed back. The winery planted 22.4 hectares on south-facing slopes within the AOC Crișana appellation and waited six years before releasing its first Carassia label in 2017, once the vines had established and the extended-lees batches had aged through.
The cool Transylvanian climate does the foundational work: cold nights and warm days slow ripening through the growing season, and the grapes arrive at harvest with natural acidity intact. That acidity is the framework the wine is built around. The Carassia Classic Brut, a 60% Chardonnay and 40% Pinot Noir blend, spends 22 months on fine lees before disgorgement, nearly three times the Romanian legal minimum. The winery's position is direct: longer lees contact builds aromatic complexity, and the aging clock is set accordingly. By 2024, Carassia had won gold medals at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships, and the range now exports to Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands, and Poland.
Known for
Traditional method sparkling wine from Transylvanian Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged well beyond Romanian legal minimums on fine lees.
Notable facts
- Founded in 2011 as Romania's first winery built specifically for traditional method sparkling wine, with no still-wine equipment in the original plans.
- The Carassia Classic Brut spends 22 months on fine lees, nearly three times the Romanian legal minimum for traditional method sparkling.
- Viticulture at the Carastelec site runs back to at least 1770, giving the south-facing slopes in Sălaj County a centuries-long track record.
- Carassia won gold medals at the 2024 Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships, thirteen years after the winery's founding.
- The winery exports to Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands, and Poland alongside the Romanian domestic market.
From the atlas
Carastelec Winery
At A Glance
| |
| Country | Romania |
| Region | North West Transylvania |
| Appellation | AOC Crișana, Șimleul Silvaniei Vineyard |
| Village | Carastelec, Sălaj County |
| Grapes | Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Feteasca Regală, Riesling, Pinot Gris |
| Style | Traditional method sparkling |
| Founded | 2011 |
The Producer
In 2011, Carastelec Winery opened in Sălaj County, North West Transylvania, as the first facility in Romania built from the ground up to make sparkling wine by the traditional method. There was no still wine option in the plans. Every press, tank, and gyropalette was ordered for second-fermentation sparkling, a commitment that left no hedged alternative if the market disagreed.
The winery sits in Carastelec village within the AOC Crișana appellation, specifically the Șimleul Silvaniei Vineyard, a sub-region that most European wine buyers have never encountered. Its sparkling label, Carassia, takes its name directly from the location: the winery chose to anchor the brand to the place before the place had any reputation to lend. The range now exports to Hungary, Norway, the Netherlands, and Poland alongside the Romanian domestic market.
Place
Sălaj County occupies a fold of Transylvania where cold nights and warm days create the high diurnal temperature range that slows grape ripening through the growing season. Slow ripening means grapes accumulate sugar gradually while retaining natural acidity. For traditional method sparkling wine, that retained acidity is not incidental: it is the framework that holds the wine upright after disgorgement and determines how far the mousse integrates with age.
The AOC Crișana appellation covers a broad swath of North West Romania. The Șimleul Silvaniei Vineyard within it gives the winery a more specific address on label and in export markets. Viticulture at this site runs back to at least 1770, which means the land has a centuries-long track record of ripening grapes, even if dedicated sparkling production is entirely new.
Soil And Site
The 22.4 hectares are planted on a south-facing slope, giving the vines maximum sun exposure through the growing season. Southern exposure in a cool-climate region like Sălaj County matters because it adds accumulated warmth that can otherwise be insufficient for full phenolic development. The combination of south-facing aspect and cold nights threads a path between ripeness and freshness.
Soil composition is not confirmed in accessible sources. The physical site data that is confirmed: slope, aspect, and hectares.
Story
In 2011, Romania had no winery built specifically for traditional method sparkling wine. Carastelec was planted and built that year with exactly that goal. The vines went in, the equipment arrived, and then came the waiting: sparkling wine from young vines, aged well beyond legal minimums, does not reach market quickly. The winery launched its Carassia label in 2017, six years after the first planting, once the vines had established and the first extended-lees batches had aged through.
By 2024, Carassia had won gold medals at the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships, a competition that judges traditional method sparkling wines from across the world. That recognition confirmed the founding bet in the clearest available terms. The winery now ships to four export markets in addition to Romania, which for a 22-hectare sparkling producer in a county most wine buyers cannot place on a map represents a considered market position built over thirteen years.
Vineyards And Cellar
Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Feteasca Regală, Riesling, and Pinot Gris are planted across the 22.4 hectares. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the core sparkling varieties; Feteasca Regală is a Romanian white grape grown across Transylvania, and its inclusion reflects the vineyard's local character alongside the international sparkling classics.
In the cellar, fermentation runs in stainless steel tanks, which preserve fruit freshness and natural acidity without adding oak character. After blending, the wine undergoes second fermentation in bottle, the defining step of the traditional method. Riddling moves the lees toward the neck. The winery's declared minimum for bottle aging is 20 months, and the Carassia Classic Brut logs 22 months on fine lees before disgorgement. Romanian law requires a fraction of that time. The winery's position is explicit: longer lees contact produces more complex aromatics, and they have set the aging clock accordingly.
Wines
The Carassia range covers three traditional method sparkling expressions. The Classic Brut blends 60% Chardonnay with 40% Pinot Noir, aged 22 months on lees. The Chardonnay drives the fresh citrus and white fruit character; the Pinot Noir adds body and a faint red fruit note beneath. At 22 months, the lees contact builds a subtle bready depth without overwhelming the primary fruit freshness that the cool Transylvanian climate preserves.
The Blanc de Blancs is 100% Chardonnay, which strips the blend back to a single grape and sharpens the wine's linear, high-acid profile. Without Pinot Noir, the wine runs leaner and more mineral in character.
The Rosé Brut is confirmed as a traditional method sparkling wine; its exact grape composition is not disclosed in accessible sources.
Friza and Vinca are the still wine labels. The specific varieties and range for those bottles are not confirmed.
In The Glass
The Carassia Classic Brut opens with fresh citrus and green apple, the signature aromatics of Chardonnay grown in a cool continental climate. Pinot Noir at 40% of the blend adds a faint cranberry and strawberry note at the edge. On the palate, the mousse is fine and sustained, a product of 22 months on lees rather than a rapid secondary fermentation. Acidity is the backbone: the high diurnal range in Sălaj County holds natural acid through ripening, and that acid line runs from entry to a clean, dry finish. At this aging level the wine delivers more lees-derived complexity than a young Crémant, with a light autolytic breadth building beneath the fruit without taking over. The finish is firm and dry, with the brut dosage leaving no perceptible sweetness.
The Blanc de Blancs will read more concentrated and citrus-forward than the Classic Brut, with higher apparent acidity and less body, because there is no Pinot Noir to add weight or red fruit warmth.
A Bottle To Understand It
Carassia Classic Brut is the bottle to open first. It is a 60/40 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend, made by second fermentation in bottle, aged 22 months on fine lees in a county where cold nights preserve the acidity that holds the whole wine together. The mousse is fine, the finish dry, and the lees contact has built enough depth to make the wine feel complete rather than primary. It is also the bottle that confirms what Carastelec set out to do in 2011: sparkling wine from a specific Transylvanian slope, made by a method with nowhere to hide, aged beyond any legal requirement. Start here.
Anecdote
When the winery submitted Carassia to the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships in 2024, it was entering a competition built around a method that France had spent centuries perfecting and that Romania had not fielded a purpose-built producer for until 2011. Thirteen years earlier, the owners had planted vines on a south-facing slope in Sălaj County and ordered equipment with no still-wine function at all. They waited six years for the first Carassia release in 2017. In 2024, the wine came back with gold medals from a competition where most entrants are from regions whose sparkling history predates the winery's founding by generations. Carastelec village, Sălaj County, on a gold medal card at a Champagne competition.
Final Word
Carastelec Winery chose the hardest version of the wine it wanted to make: traditional method sparkling, built from scratch, in a Romanian county with no modern sparkling precedent, aged longer than the law requires. The Carassia range is the direct result of that choice. The Classic Brut is the clearest argument for why it worked.
Sources
- https://revino.ro/en/new-sparkling-wines-from-carastelec-winery-a376.html
- https://www.crameromania.ro/en/wineries/vinca-winery-carastelec-240.html
- https://winestatistics.com/2022/10/17/carastelec-carassia-classic-brut/
- https://alottowineabout.com/romanian-wine-carstelec-winery-a-hidden-gem/