Lithuanian
born Tomas Lankutis moved to the UK less than a decade ago.Although he started with nothing, in the
short time he has been here he has used his astute business mind to find a
realistic business opportunity.
Originally
finding work as a demolition labourer but with nowhere to live he spent the
first ten days of his residency sleeping in his car, when he finally found
accommodation he had to bath three times before he was anywhere near clean.
As an
intelligent and hardworking individual with the ability to speak, read and
write in English, Tomas was promoted after only two days to a supervisory role,
from there to foreman and finally became a Health and Safety
Administrator.Always ready for a
challenge Tomas began to notice that there was a real gap in the UK market for
Eastern European food products.He had
also been disappointed by the quality of the Moldovan wine available and realised
there was real potential for quality wines from Moldova to be introduced to the
British wine loving public.
Tomas went
straight to Moldova
to talk to the Moldovan wine producers, he was welcomed into their secret
cellars, regaled with their stories and experienced first hand their famous
hospitality.His love for the country,
the people and the wine making tradition in the Country fuelled his desire to
introduce the UK
to one of the Queen’s favourite wines.
Although
Tomas has no formal wine training he has a genuine love for the grape and an
ambition that has already seen him succeed in so many areas.He is determined that the British public
should be exposed to the real, hidden, quality Moldovan wines.
A Brief History of Moldova
The Republic of Moldova
occupies most of what has been known as Bessarabia.
An Eastern European country, it lies land-locked
between The Ukraine and Romania.
Moldova's
location has made it a historic passageway between Asia and Southern
Europe. Throughout its troubled history it has been the victim of
frequent, vicious warfare; Greeks, Romans, Huns, and Bulgars have all invaded
the area.
Moldova's Latin
origins can be traced to the period of Roman occupation of nearby Dacia (in present-day Romania,
Bulgaria, and Serbia), ca.
A.D. 105-270, when a culture was formed from the intermingling of Roman
colonists and the local population. After the Roman Empire
and its influence waned its troops left the region in A.D. 271, a number of
groups passed through the area, often violently: Huns, Ostrogoths, and Antes
(who were Slavs). The Bulgarian Empire, the Magyars, the Pechenegs, and the
Golden Horde (Mongols) also held sway temporarily.
In the
thirteenth century, Hungary
expanded into the area and established a line of fortifications in Moldova near the SiretulRiver (in present-day Romania) and
beyond. The region came under Hungarian control until an independent Moldovan
principality was established by Prince Bogdan in 1349. Originally called
Bogdania, the principality stretched from the Carpathian Mountains to the NistruRiver
and was later renamed Moldova,
after the MoldovaRiver in present-day Romania.
An
independent Moldovan state emerged briefly in the 14th century under celebrated
leader Stefan the Great but subsequently fell under Ottoman Turkish rule in the
16th century. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12, the eastern half of Moldova (Bessarabia) was ceded to Russia, while Romanian Moldavia (west of the Prut) remained with the Turks. Romania,
which gained independence in 1878, took control of Russian-ruled Bessarabia in 1918.
In 1940, Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia to the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), which established the Moldavian
Soviet Socialist Republic by merging the autonomous republic east of the Dniester and the annexed Bessarabian portion. Stalin also
stripped the three southern counties along the Black Sea coast from Moldova and incorporated them in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
In
September 1990, the Supreme Soviet elected Mircea Snegur as President of the
Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova. A former Communist Party official, he
endorsed independence from the Soviet Union
and actively sought Western recognition. On May 23, 1991, the Supreme Soviet
renamed itself the Parliament of the Republic
of Moldova, which
subsequently declared its independence from the U.S.S.R.
In August
1991, Moldova's transition to democracy initially had been impeded by an
ineffective Parliament, the lack of a new constitution, a separatist movement
led by the Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority in the south, and unrest in the
Transnistria region on the left bank of the Nistru/Dniester River, where a
separatist movement declared a "Transdniester Moldovan Republic" in
September 1990. The Russian 14th Army intervened to stem widespread violence
and support the Transnistrian regime which is led by supporters of the 1991
coup attempt in Moscow.
In 1992, the government negotiated a cease-fire arrangement with Russian and
Transnistrian officials, although tensions continue, and negotiations are
ongoing.
In
February 1994, new legislative elections were held, and the ineffective
Parliament that had been elected in 1990 to a 5-year term was replaced. A new
constitution was adopted in July 1994. The conflict with the Gagauz minority
was defused by the granting of local autonomy in 1994.
Moldova remains
one of the poorest countries in Europe despite
recent progress from its small economic base. It enjoys a favourable climate
and good farmland but has no major mineral deposits. As a result, the economy
depends heavily on agriculture, featuring fruits, vegetables, wine, and
tobacco.
