About Asconi

Asconi Corporation is a leading export-oriented producer of wines and spirits in Eastern Europe that is directly involved in every aspect of wine and spirits production and distribution, from processing of grapes to sales alcoholic beverages. Asconi has four core business functions:

• International and regional distribution of bottled wines and spirits;
• Grape processing and production of a large variety of wines;
• Processing, storage and aging of wine;
• Production of spirits including vodka and brandy.

Production

Asconi is the largest independent wine producer in Moldova. Asconi has a number of well-established brands, under which Company-markets its products. Although not considered a main business function, the Company sells wine in bulk for custom rebranding and bottling by other companies.

Asconi operates ten winemaking, distilling, processing and storage plants located within approximately 40 miles of Chisinau, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. Vitis Hincesti Winery, which includes six plants, is almost 200 years old and is very well known worldwide. Overall grape processing capacity of Asconi owned facilities reaches approximately 50 thousand tons per harvest season, while total aging and storage capacity is over 20 million gallons. Bottling facilities ensure production of 36,000 bottles per hour. The four-column distillery produces 10 tons of high quality alcohol per day.

During the grape harvest of 2002, Asconi processed 27,000 tons of grapes, over 250% increase from 2000 when over 10,000 tons of grapes were processed. Russia is Moldova's largest wine purchaser, importing over 80% of the country's wine output. Asconi is the largest Moldovan exporter into Russia.

Location

Asconi is located in an excellent winemaking environment, due to a  temperate climate and calcium-rich soils that surround Moldova.  Asconi's  high quality wines are consistently rated higher than wines from neighboring countries. In fact, the country's wines regularly receive prestigious awards in international wine competitions.

Quality

According to independent reviews, Asconi is the most familiar Moldovan brand in the Russian market. Asconi uses machinery from Italy, Germany and France that is on-par with high caliber western wine production facilities. The modern equipment allows Asconi to quickly adapt to changes in customer demands.

For instance, the machinery can be configured to create more expensive aged high-quality wines, or reconfigured for faster production for more  affordable brands.  According to Dionis Club magazine, Asconi is the most recognized Moldovan brand of wine in Russia, which is the main importer of Moldovan wines. Further, Asconi is the dominant imported brand of wine into the Russian market, regularly garnering over 10% of overall wine sales.