The 11th edition of the National Wine Day will see a couple of changes. The authorities have changed the date of the holiday, the place, as well as the participants’ exhibition. The changes were announced at a news conference by Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Vasile Burmacov, Info-Prim Neo reports. Vasile Burmacov said it was decided that the National Wine Day will be held during the first weekend of October. This was decided for two reasons: in some years the holiday coincided with the City’s Patron Saint’s Day, which is annually celebrated on October 14t, and if it were to be organized later, bad and chilly weather would affect the holiday. “This holiday is organized for tourists. We want to promote our wines in as many states as possible. If the weather is nice, more guests will come to the holiday”, remarked Burmacov. Festivities will be held at Moldexpo, like in the previous years, but the placement of the participants’ exhibition stands has been modified. Geographic associations will be able to exhibit both the wines and the cuisine specific to their place of origin. The Minister has said that all the actions will be directed towards promoting the wine-producing associations that are named after their region. Several novel elements have been introduced: the prologue will have a folkloric theme and there will be tastings for the most select wines and national food. The holiday’s estimated budget is 1 million lei, by 100,000 lei smaller than last year. The money will be collected from participation fees paid by the wine-producing companies, the food exhibition owners and sponsors. The state will contribute 200,000 lei. Several contests will be organized as part of the holiday. The National Wine Day starts on Saturday, October 6, in Chisinau, and continues until the day after, with manifestations in the country’s districts. Invitations have been sent to several countries that represent the targeted markets of Moldova’s wine exports.