Purcari kicks off the project Rara Neagră 2.0

Two of France’s leading ampelographers recently visited the Republic of Moldova for an extensive scientific study of the Rara Neagră variety. Together with a group of Moldovan experts, they are working on the “Rara Neagră 2.0” project. A 10-year project in which Purcari aims to safeguard, develop and pass on to future generations the best that Rara Neagră has to offer.

We were with the experts for a day at Purcari and, frankly, we were struck by the depth with which they are working on this project.

They went into the vineyards of Purcari, as well as to households in the Lower Nistru area, to identify the most interesting bio-types of Rara Neagra. Here, for example, they discovered a 120-year-old Rara!

They are going to do laboratory analysis and develop a large program of hybridization and conservation of the Rara Neagră variety.

In other words, the best clones will be chosen, their viability, productivity, resistance to the climate and soils of the area will be studied. Then, the best bio-types of  Rara Neagră will be popularized. Purcari will establish a kind of “conservatory” – an experimental plot with the best Rara Neagră varieties.

In fact, experts already know about the Rara Neagră because they have it in the Montpellier ampelographic collection, one of the largest in the world.

“We have studied this plant on several production units in the ampelographic collection in France. But it’s different here, because we can see a larger variety in its own environment, grown by locals, and it’s also a first for us to discover the native variety at home,” said Oliver Yobregat, a researcher at the Institute of Vine and Wine, France.

Professor Thierry Lacombe, Montpellier Supagro Institute, France: “We did a visual selection of the plants, took samples from different locations for laboratory analysis. We are going to come back in winter to continue the research on our marked cuttings”.

The experts took pictures in the gallery of achievements at Purcari. They say that in a decade’s time, a billboard will appear here, telling about the year 2024, which laid the groundwork for the extensive Rara Neagră 2.0 project.

Gheorghe Arpentin, director cercetare și dezvoltare, grupul Purcari, a subliniat: “The first reason why we deal with Rara Neagră is that it is a traditional variety. It is an emblematic variety and a heritage for Purcari and this region. In order to preserve and preserve this heritage, Purcari decided to bring back the diversity of this variety, to preserve and preserve it”.

The project Rară Neagra 2.0 also involves experts from Purcari’s production and agricultural departments, as well as scientific researchers from the Institute of Horticulture and Food Technologies; the Department of Horticulture and Forestry of the Faculty of Agricultural, Forestry and Environmental Sciences of TUM; the Institute of Genetics, Physiology and Plant Protection, State University of Moldova; the Municipality of Purcari village.