Romania
Sand Origin
Lacul Reci and Mountain 7 km outside Covasna City
Random Sand Fact
When a tiny pest nearly wiped out Europe’s vineyards, sand became a defence.
In the 19th century, phylloxera spread across Europe. The tiny insect attacked vine roots and destroyed vineyards country after country.
But in the loose sandy soils of southern Romania, it struggled to move from root to root. Some old Romanian grape varieties survived there that might otherwise have disappeared.
Elsewhere, European vineyards were largely saved by grafting European varieties onto resistant American rootstocks.
In Romania’s sandy wine country, some vines still grow on their own roots, as vines did before the phylloxera epidemic.
