The authorities have named the winners of the first stage of “The Golden Barrel 2007” contest. Thus, at the nomination “Young Wine from technical varieties”, category “The best white wine”, the Grand Prix went to Maxim Carasec from Huluboaia village, Cahul, for the wine “Feteasca-2006”. At the category “The best red wine”, the prize will go to Dumitru Placinta from Causeni for the wine “Rara Neagra-2006”. At the nomination “Young wine from hybrid varieties”, category “The best white wine”, the prize will be awarded to Mihai Paslari from Orhei for “Noa-2005” wine, while at the category “The best red wine” – to Simion Tomsa from Sarata-Razesti village, Leova, for “Cornisor negru 2006” wine. As regards the nomination “Homemade wine from the past years, kept for more than one year”, category “The best white wine”, the prize will be given to Valeriu Gherman from Orhei for the wine “Rcatiteli-2005”, while at the category “The best red wine” – to Andrei Cebanica, from Ciadar-Lunga raion, for “Merlot-2005” wine. As for “Desert Wine” nomination, the prize will go to Gherghe Gogu from Causeni for the wine “Cagor”. The special prize will be awarded to Ion Tataru from Filipeni, Leova, for “Sauvignon -2006”. This year, as the jurors assert, the quality of the presented wine has considerably improved. So, they could compete with those produced by the enterprises. The awarding ceremony of the winners of I and II stages will be held as part of the Wine Festival on October 6. As part of the National Wine Day, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) traditionally has organised the “The Golden Barrel” contest for the best homemade wine since 2002. The goal of the action is to find the best producers of homemade wine, to popularise the national tradition of making wine, to improve the culture of wine consumption and make an exchange of information between the producers of homemade wine. As from this year, according to the CCI’s decision, the contest is organised in two stages: the first – in raions, in January; while during the second stage there will take place the republican tasting, in February. According to the data from the country’s raions, 675 participants took part in the first stage, while 67 participants with 74 sorts of wine – in the second stage.