Jidvei: Wine as a Language of Romanian Cultural Diplomacy

Wine, alongside gastronomy, is part of a country’s culture and an ambassador of its spirit. Oenodiplomacy or diplomatic oenogastronomy are long-established tools that have helped countries such as Chile or Argentina secure a top position on the global market.

The good news is that Jidvei has launched a campaign for Romanian wine, carried out on all fronts – music, visual arts, literature, cinema – ultimately bringing together wine and Romanian culture in a way that captures international attention. The SPIRIT collection and Jidvei XO brandy, launched by Jidvei in 2025, are statements about identity, roots, and the way contemporary Romania is beginning to present itself to the world. From the Rome Opera House to art festivals in Paris, from events dedicated to Romanian intellectual heritage to collaborations with leading artists of today, Jidvei wines become vectors of culture, bearers of symbols, and messengers of a refined Romanian sensibility.

Wine as a language of identity: December 1, 2025, Rome Opera House

Last year, Jidvei wines stood alongside Romanian artists celebrating National Day on the stage of La Fenice in Venice. Exactly one year later, on the evening of December 1, 2025, in the splendid hall of the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, the Romanian Embassy in Italy celebrated Romania’s National Day and officially opened the Romania-Italy Cultural Year 2026 with a truly special Gala Concert, also supported by Jidvei wines.

Under the baton of conductor Daniel Jinga, the Orchestra of the Bucharest National Opera brought together Romanian and Italian music. On stage, three leading lyrical artists – Anita Hartig, Ruxandra Donose, and Ștefan Pop – captivated the audience with their sensitivity, expressiveness, and elegance.

The event was opened by Ambassador Gabriela Dancău, alongside Romania’s Minister of Culture, András István Demeter, Italy’s Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, and Federico Mollicone, President of the Culture Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, in a demonstration of friendship and authentic cultural dialogue between the two countries.


More than 1,200 guests – representatives of Italian institutions, diplomats, cultural figures, academics, business leaders, and members of the Romanian community – filled the hall in an atmosphere of celebration and belonging.
During the concert intermissions, guests discovered Jidvei wines in a special tasting that also included labels from the SPIRIT collection.

SPIRIT: a collection that breathes symbols

Launched in 2025, the SPIRIT collection is not only about wine, but about a way of viewing Romanian culture. The labels, created by contemporary artists, are built around archetypal symbols – the wolf, the eagle, the moon, the mountain, the forest – elements of a deep Transylvanian sensibility, expressed without ostentation.

Fetească Regală, Chardonnay, and the blend of Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon all become not just grape varieties, but voices in a unified story, bound together by sculptural design and a philosophy: wine as language, wine as identity, wine as art.

Contemporary Romania in Paris: Un Week-end à l’Est

Just a few weeks earlier, Paris hosted the Un Week-end à l’Est festival, which brought more than 80 Romanian artists, writers, filmmakers, and creators before the French public.

It was a Romania without clichés, without self-censorship – a Romania of ideas, emotion, and expressive diversity. In this vibrant setting, Jidvei wines – including the SPIRIT range – accompanied dialogues, exhibitions, readings, and performances, becoming part of the way Romanian culture asserts its place in Europe.

The Monica Lovinescu Award Gala: respect for cultural memory

In Bucharest, the same SPIRIT collection was officially launched during the Monica Lovinescu Award Gala, at an event that celebrated excellence and intellectual clarity. The piano recital by George Todică and the Liiceanu-Patapievici dialogue completed an evening dedicated to the free spirit – a spirit that also defines Jidvei’s philosophy: respect for tradition, openness to the new, and the courage to tell stories.

The Stradivarius Concert at Bethlen-Haller Castle

In the summer of this year, Bethlen-Haller Castle became the stage for a unique moment: the closing concert of the Stradivarius Tour – RAPSODIILE, performed by Alexandru Tomescu and Dragoș Ilie.
Within Renaissance walls, Enescu’s music and Jidvei wines created an evening that wove together heritage, art, and emotion in an exemplary way.

Jidvei XO and the lucid cinema of Radu Jude

Also in 2025, Jidvei premiered its XO brandy internationally in Paris – a product aged for a minimum of seven years in oak barrels, produced in a limited edition – during an event dedicated to the retrospective of director Radu Jude.

Radu Jude – one of the most powerful voices of European cinema – is a filmmaker who looks lucidly and critically, with a blend of irony and gravity, at Romanian history and identity.


In this context, Vinars XO becomes a cultural object, a metaphor for distilled time, patience, and memory – central themes in Jude’s work as well.

SPIRIT as a cultural strategy

From Rome to Paris, from Blaj to Bethlen-Haller Castle, from writers and filmmakers to visual artists, Jidvei takes part in building a coherent cultural identity.
SPIRIT becomes the red thread that connects tradition with contemporaneity, the terroir of Transylvania with Europe’s great cultural stages.
In a world where authenticity is more valued than perfection, Jidvei wines offer a story, a symbol, an emotion – a way of belonging.

Conclusion

SPIRIT is the way Transylvania tells its story. With patience. With refinement. With respect for creativity.
And Paris, Rome, and the wider world are beginning to listen.