Purcari, a winery in the South-Eastern part of Moldova, is putting a Russian space mission at risk, following the company’s board decision not to supply their erythrocytes rich red blend, critical to cosmonauts’ diet. Instead, Purcari announced a new partnership with the NASA’s space-food program.

The Moldovan winery has been a long time supplier to the Federal Space Agency (FSA), the state body overseeing the Russian space exploration program managing an annual budget of 165 billion rubles (2.9 billion USD). Specifically, their Negru de Purcari Gagarin-edition, a space optimized version of a classical wine blend, is specifically engineered for a zero gravity environment. Coming in a cosmodynamic tube, the wine is resistant to spoilage due to accelerated oxidation and can be easily consumed.

Importantly, beyond the purely gastronomic value, the Purcari wines have been the main source of red blood cells for astronauts, reducing the risks of space induced anemia. The combination of unique calcareous terroir at Purcari, yielding higher erythrocytes content, as well as the patented zero gravity tube production methods, have prevented other wineries from France, Italy or US to create alternatives to Purcari’s space wines. As a mission-critical product, these are mandatory for the cosmonauts’ diet and, theoretically, may lead to costly delays for the much awaited Soyuz-2 mission, planned for December 2015.

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The dispute with FSA came after a decision by Purcari to start supplying NASA missions, in addition to remaining a supplier to the Russian agency. FSA disputed the decision, insisting on exclusivity rights, citing technology drain concerns. Another contentious issue was the Purcari Freedom Blend , a limited edition wine bringing together indigenous grapes from Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia. The Russian authorities perceived this wine as rather unsubtle teasing, exploiting the geopolitical divisions in the region, as all three of these countries have been drifting away from Russian sphere of influence proclaiming EU accession as a foreign policy priority.

bloommberg.info

