Dealu Mare: vines full of grapes, almost no hands left to pick them
One of Prahova’s best crops in five years — yields ~6–16 t/ha, Cris-Tim Ceptura ~13–14 — is stalling for day labour. ICDVV Valea Călugărească (~50 ha) offered 200 lei/day for 400 kg; pickers fell from 16 to 7, then zero on a holiday Monday. Ceptura has 32 at 140 lei/day plus meal and transport, and still wants roughly double.
Dealu Mare has the fruit. What it does not have is enough people in the rows.
Observatorul Prahovean reports one of the best crops in five years across Prahova’s hills. Yields land roughly between 6 and 16 tonnes per hectare; at Cris-Tim’s Ceptura estate the reds and whites sit around 13–14 t/ha. Heat pulled ripening forward, so cules started early — and then stalled.
At ICDVV Valea Călugărească (~50 ha), the institute listed pay at 200 lei a day for 400 kg. Day one brought 16 zilieri; the count fell to seven; on a holiday Monday, nobody came. Deputy director Marian Ion says staff may have to pick themselves if registered day labour does not return.
Down the road at Ceptura, 32 pickers were already in the vie at dawn. Nicolae Sultana says the wage costs 140 lei a day, with a hot meal and free transport — and he still wants roughly twice that crew to keep pace. Most hands are past first youth; young workers are scarce.
Mini-concept: a great vintage is not a tankful until someone cuts the bunch. Yield maps measure what the vine grew; labour maps measure what the cellar will ever see.
Keep: when a Dealu Mare bottle tastes like a “perfect year,” ask whether the rows had enough zilieri to finish the cules on time.
Remember: Prahova ~6–16 t/ha (Ceptura 13–14); ICDVV 200 lei/400 kg — 16→7→0; Ceptura 32 at 140 lei + meal/transport, needs ~2×.
Source: Observatorul Prahovean