On the weekend of March 14-16, 2025, a group of 15 daredevils, with their families and guests, undertook a wine-gastronomic and cultural-historical documentation expedition in the city of Chernivtsi. We took the plunge after a long and protracted process. We finally succeeded, thanks to Mr. Sergei Hakman, the director of the Local Public Administration Staff Training Center, in finding a group of genuine wine lovers from Chernivtsi, a group which, even if it is still informal, is well knit and made up of influential people. The first evening, at the Allure Inn restaurant, we met some of them over a glass of wine. Not by chance, we were also greeted by the Vice President of the Chernivtsi Regional Council, Mr. Mykhailo Pavliuc, former Governor of the Chernivtsi Rada.
Saturday was dedicated to a long tour of cosmopolitan Chernivtsi, the former capital of the Duchy of Bukovina (1849-1918). We were guided by Nicolai Costraș, a truly competent guide, a collaborator of the Yuriy Fedkovych University of Chernivtsi. We visited the current National University (located in the former Residence of the Metropolitan of Bukovina and Dalmatia, an impressive ensemble of buildings built between 1864-1882, according to the plans of the Austro-Hungarian architect Josef Hlávka, an architectural complex included – since 2011 – in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List). We mention one more emblematic building we visited: The Dramatic Theater, built in 1905, according to the design by the Austrian architects F. Felmer and G. Ghelmer, the authors of the opera and ballet theaters in Odessa and Vienna and 43 other theaters in Europe.
The surprise came from Mr. Yuriy Cealapchiy, the leader of the Chernivtsi Wine Lovers Group, who organized for us on Saturday evening at the Gopaciok restaurant a tasting of eight premium wines from Ukraine. The presentation of the wines was professionally presented by sommelier Maryana Tsaryk. It was a practical demonstration of the ability of Ukrainian wineries to produce high quality wines. We tasted really good wines from Kolonist, Frumushika Nova, Shabo and Stakhovscky Wines wineries. Yuriy, on behalf of his friends, expressed his wish to join the European Order of the Knights of the Knights of Wine and asked us to guide them in this rather complicated endeavor in the current economic climate.
In Honorem Dei et In Honorem Vini
Amicitia per Vinum
Eques Dragoș Danubianu
Legat 1 Bucovina
