Best Dealu Mare Wineries to Visit in 2026 — 7 Verified Picks
Dealu Mare is Romania's most decorated wine region — by some counts it has won more than a third of all Romanian medals at national and international competitions — and its reputation rests on full-bodied reds made from the native Fetească Neagră grape, which by law must make up at least a quarter of any wine carrying the region's top classification. The appellation runs roughly 65 kilometres along the southern Carpathian foothills in Muntenia, about an hour to ninety minutes' drive north-east of Bucharest, which makes it the most accessible Romanian wine country for a day trip. Soils shift from west to east: iron-rich red clays and marls favour the reds around Urlați and Ceptura, while limestone, sandstone and sand further east around Pietroasele suit white and aromatic varieties instead. Most of the estates below are working wineries first and tourism operations second, so arranging a visit ahead of time — rather than expecting a drop-in tasting counter — is the norm here, not the exception.
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At a glance
| # | Winery | Sub-region | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crama Basilescu | Urlați | Dealu Mare's oldest, most storied name |
| 2 | LacertA Winery | Fintesti (Buzău County) | Most complete, tour-ready visitor programme |
| 3 | SERVE Winery | Ceptura de Jos | Romania's first post-1989 private winery, Fetească Neagră focus |
| 4 | Domeniile Săhăteni (Aurelia Vișinescu) | Săhăteni (Buzău County) | Large-scale estate led by a founding oenologist |
| 5 | Crama Ceptura | Ceptura | Purcari-group scale production, five-wine portfolio |
| 6 | Licorna Winehouse | Gura Vadului (near Mizil) | Winery-plus-guesthouse stay with folklore history |
| 7 | Domeniul Strehan | Tohani (near Mizil) | Family manor revival, gateway to the region-wide tasting bus |
Crama Basilescu
The Basilescu name traces to Nicolae Basilescu, born in Urlați in 1860, and continues through his son Aristide's romance with Aglae Saint Georges de Posingen — the inspiration behind labels like Ingeri din Micul Paris. The family's vineyard and manor were confiscated by the state in 1949; an heir recovered the estate after 2003 and revived the brand in 2008. Today the winery holds roughly 60 hectares of red varieties around Urlați plus more than 40 hectares of aromatic and sweet whites in nearby Pietroasa, and runs small-group tastings of 10 to 18 people through its own visit programme.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Online or emailGroup tastings run 10-18 people. Arrange through the official site's own Visit Us page rather than expecting a drop-in counter.
- Visit policy
- [TBD]
LacertA Winery
LacertA is named for the green lizard that lives freely among its vines, and by its own account carries '20 years of history and experience in winemaking.' Austrian-led founders restored the 1901 Dorobanțu Manor — designed by architect Ion Mincu in the neo-Romanian style — as the estate's headquarters, on a 36-hectare, gravity-fed site planted with 12 grape varieties. The winery runs a structured 'Experiențe la cramă' programme, with guided cellar tours and tasting packages bookable through its own site.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Book onlineBook directly via the site's 'Rezervă o Vizită' (Book a Visit) page; tasting packages are listed separately under 'Pachete de Degustare.'
- Visit policy
- No fixed hours published on the main pages; tours and tastings are scheduled through the booking page above.
SERVE Winery
SERVE has been 'active in Ceptura since 1994,' making it the first private winery established in Romania after the 1989 revolution, and the estate frames Fetească Neagră as the variety 'from which everything began' here. Vineyards sit almost exactly on the 45th parallel at around 450 metres, 66 hectares in production with a further 12 hectares held in reserve, vines averaging 20 years old. Visits run through the estate's own tastings page rather than a walk-in counter — arrange ahead through the official site.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Online or emailVisits run through the estate's own tastings page (linked from 'Visit our vineyard') or by emailing serve@serve.ro.
- Visit policy
- No standalone hours published; book ahead rather than turning up unannounced.
Domeniile Săhăteni (Aurelia Vișinescu)
Domeniile Săhăteni began in 2003, founded by oenologist Aurelia Vișinescu and her associate Steve Cacenco, after Vișinescu trained at the University of Horticulture. The estate has grown to 82 hectares — most vines replanted since 2008 — with two production lines, an underground cellar holding more than 400 barriques, and roughly a 1,000,000-bottle annual capacity. The site doesn't publish a visitor programme directly, so start from its contact page to arrange a tasting.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Online or emailThe official site publishes no visitor programme directly — start from its Contact page to ask about a tasting.
- Visit policy
- [TBD]
Crama Ceptura
Crama Ceptura has belonged to the Purcari group since the early 2000s and runs at an industrial scale for the region, with reported capacity near 10 million bottles a year and roughly 6 million litres of storage. The estate's five core labels — Motiv, Magnus Monte, Astrum, Cervus and Pelin — come from a site barely a mile from its historic neighbour SERVE, so visitors doing both in one day should confirm which gate they're walking into. The official site doesn't publish a tasting programme or hours.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Online or emailNo visitor programme is published on the official site — use its general Contact page to ask about a tasting, and confirm you're booking Crama Ceptura and not its near-neighbour SERVE.
- Visit policy
- [TBD]
Licorna Winehouse
Licorna Winehouse opened in 2013 on ground with an older local story — villagers say Nicolae and Elena Nicolau set out to build a winery here 'more than 100 years' before, and a dream in which a prince asked for a black wine gave the estate both its flagship red and its name. The vineyard sits between Gura Vadului and Vadu Săpat with vines averaging nine years old, and the site doubles as a small guesthouse with a restaurant and a gazebo used for tastings.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Book by emailEmail rezervari@licornawinehouse.ro to book a tasting, the restaurant, or a guesthouse room.
- Visit policy
- The official site publishes overlapping hour ranges for different days — confirm the exact schedule when you book rather than relying on either figure here.
Domeniul Strehan
Domeniul Strehan began when its owners returned to Tohani, at the foot of the Strehan hill, and by the winery's own account 'found fragments of their family's past' in a surviving vineyard and an old boyar manor. The project now spans three linked sites — Crama Strehan, Conacul Eglantina and Hambarul Târgovețului — and anchors a regional 'Turul Cramelor' sightseeing-bus route that pairs it with ten other local wineries. The site is mainly a wine shop-front; arrange a visit through its contact details rather than expecting a published tasting menu.
- Tasting
- Confirm with winery
- How to book
- Online or emailUse the official site's contact details to arrange a visit to Crama Strehan or ask about joining the regional Turul Cramelor tasting-bus route.
- Visit policy
- [TBD]
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Frequently asked
What makes Dealu Mare's wine different from other Romanian regions?
Dealu Mare is built around Fetească Neagră, Romania's signature native red grape, which must make up at least 25% of any wine carrying the region's top classification tiers. The region's sub-Carpathian hills give it a split identity: red clay and marl soils around Urlați and Ceptura in the west favour full-bodied reds, while limestone, sandstone and sandy soils further east around Pietroasele are better suited to whites and aromatics.
How far is Dealu Mare from Bucharest, and do I need a car?
Dealu Mare is the closest major wine region to Bucharest — most estates are roughly an hour to ninety minutes' drive away — which is why day trips from the capital are common. A car, hired driver, or an organised tour is practical; public transport between individual wineries is not realistic.
Do Dealu Mare wineries require reservations?
Generally yes. Unlike a Napa-style tasting room with regular public hours, most estates here — including several on this list — don't publish standing hours and expect visits to be arranged ahead through their own site or a direct email, so booking a day or more in advance is the safer default.
What's the difference between Urlați, Ceptura, Săhăteni and the other named villages?
These are the individual communes inside the larger Dealu Mare DOC where most of the visitable wineries cluster — Urlați and Ceptura in the west are associated with the region's reds, while Săhăteni, Gura Vadului and Tohani sit further along the same sub-Carpathian belt. A bottle can legally say 'Dealu Mare' regardless of which commune the fruit came from.
Can I stay overnight at a Dealu Mare winery?
Some can — Licorna Winehouse operates as a winery and guesthouse together, with rooms and a restaurant on site, and Domeniul Strehan's wider project includes a manor and linked buildings. Most of the other estates on this list are day-visit tasting operations without accommodation.
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