Ilie and Svetlana Gogu's family estate in Căușeni - a former head technologist who started making wine in his courtyard, and one of Moldova's most decorated small producers.
Gogu Winery was founded by Ilie Gogu and his wife Svetlana in Căușeni, Ștefan Vodă PGI. Ilie's family has been making wine for four generations, but his formal career started as a technologist - he spent ten years as head technologist at a large Moldovan winery before deciding to go small. He registered as a small producer in 2011 and made his first commercial release in 2014. The winemaking happens in the family house courtyard.
Around ten hectares. The focus leans white: Feteasca Albă, Feteasca Regală, Viorica (an aromatic indigenous Moldovan variety), Riton, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay. Also Blanc de Merlot (white from red grapes), Metafora (a red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Saperavi from roughly fifty-year-old vines), and rosé.
Gold medals at Decanter, Mundus Vini, and Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. Alongside Equinox, Gogu represents the courtyard-and-conviction end of Moldovan wine - genuinely small, genuinely family, the opposite of the industrial tradition.