OREANDA-NEWS. August 16, 2012. The Moldo-American Lion Gri Company is going to manage this grape removal season with its own vineyards that have just become mature.

Lion Gri President Grigory Sonic told Infotag that even if the company needs some extra raw materials, these will be white grapes necessary for the realization of the 2012 brandy program.

“So far, it is somewhat premature to speak of a grape harvest because due to a prolonged heat, berries are very sweet, but grapes themselves are lighter than usual. Plantations need rain – now, not in late August or early September. A recent examination of vineyards showed that due to a hot weather, grapes are getting raisiny, which process tells negatively on the overall mass of grapes”, explained the Lion Gri president.

In his words, vineyards situated closer to the Dniester River look excellently, whereas those in southern Moldova – in the Vulcanesti zone and closer to Cantemir town – are in a somewhat worse condition but on the whole good.

Grigory Sonic says that the harvesting of a part of Lion Gri plantations will be postponed until a latest possible time – until first frosts, for these grapes will be used for carrying out a special program – the Ice Wine production.

“We have been producing Ice Wine for several years already, gradually building up the output because demand on Lion Gri-made Ice Wine assortment is growing steadily at the markets of Europe, Russia, China, the United States, as well as Vietnam and South Korea”, said Grigory Sonic.

The Lion Gri president said that to realize the 2012 program of raw material provision, the company will require approximately 10,000 tons of red and white grapes. Fortunately, the Lion Gri plantations have become mature enough to ensure the sought amount of grapes.

Infotag’s dossier: Lion Gri is among the biggest 5 quality wine producers in Moldova. It produces annually over 20 million bottles of vintage wines, including sparkling wines aged 3 years and older made by using classical French techniques. The company runs 5 primary-cycle wineries of its own situated in southern Moldova, where Lion Gri has over 800 hectares of own vineyards. In Chisinau, the company operates its main facility – a bottling factory equipped fully according to European standards, and near Chisinau – vast underground cellars, where classical sparkling and other wines mature. Lion Gri exports happily to the United States, China, Germany, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries.

This upcoming autumn, Lion Gri will start wine bottling in China – at the UraVin enterprise built jointly with Chinese partners. It will be producing up to 60 million bottles of wine per year. Recently, the first 500,000 liters of quality wine were delivered happily to the People’s Republic of China.

UraVin is projecting an Initial public offering (IPO) – stocks with which the Moldovan, American and Chinese partners are going to come to the China’s stock market before the end of 2012 so that to attract US\\$200 million of investment in their joint business.

Last several years, Lion Gri has been trading happily with the Czech Republic, Romania and Poland thanks to the Trade Homes the company has opened there.

This autumn, Lion Gri will mark its 15th anniversary. The company reached its wine trade maximum in 2004, when it produced and exported 25 million bottles of excellent wines.