Jidvei presents the new collection, Spirit, during the most important festival dedicated to Romanian culture “Un Week-end à l’Est”, which brings together 80 renowned Romanian artists in Paris, including Mircea Cărtărescu, Cristian Mungiu, Dan Perjovschi, Matei Vișniec, Corneliu Porumboiu, Ioana Pârvulescu, Mircea Cantor, between November 18 and December 1, 2025
Paris becomes the capital of Romanian culture
For five days, Paris is experiencing the largest celebration of Romanian culture in recent years. The “Un Weekend à l’Est” festival, now in its ninth edition, transforms the city into a vibrant map of contemporary Romanian creativity: over 80 artists, writers, directors, musicians, visual artists, choreographers, performers and interdisciplinary creators, bring to the fore the strength and diversity of a culture in one of its most fertile moments.
The festival invites, every year, a single European culture to the fore. After celebrating Kiev, Belgrade and Athens, the festival now directs its spotlight to Romania, a culture that, from Brâncusi to the new generations, has built a lively dialogue with Paris, between mutual admiration, exchange and inspiration.
“We always want Romania to have a fairer image outside the country, and culture has always been the one that saved us and brought us the kind attention we crave. During this period, Paris hosts, through this generous Weekend a l’Est, one of the largest events ever dedicated exclusively to Romanian culture. We have the opportunity to present ourselves to a Western audience and stimulate their curiosity to discover a modern, creative, daring Romania, capable of shaking off provincialism and being in step with contemporary artistic expressions” – Cristian Mungiu
The 2025 edition has Cristian Mungiu, winner of the Palme d’Or, one of the most respected European filmmakers, as the ambassador of the festival. Alongside him, the program brings to the fore essential names of Romanian culture: Mircea Cărtărescu, Matei Vișniec, Ioana Pârvulescu, Dan Perjovschi, Mircea Cantor, Corneliu Porumboiu, Alexander Nanau, as well as numerous young artists and emerging creations from Romania and the cultural diaspora.
“The Un Week-end à l’Est festival is truly remarkable because it manages to bring together 80 Romanian artists from various fields. It is a rare opportunity for the public in France to discover the diversity and uniqueness of contemporary Romanian culture.” – Corneliu Porumboiu
In the same spirit, Matei Vișniec, playwright, poet and central figure of the French theater, fixes the essence of this cultural dialogue:
“Romania gave me roots, France gave me wings.” – Matei Vișniec, for Culture in the van
And the artist Dan Perjovschi captures, in a few words, the energy that animates this year’s edition: “The selection captures the energy of Romanian creativity: diverse, sometimes uncomfortable, but always authentic. It’s a rare opportunity to see, in one place, how today’s Romania is expressed in ideas.”
Throughout the festival, Paris hosts readings, screenings, exhibitions, performances, concerts and cultural meetings, outlining one of the richest panoramas of contemporary Romania in the European space. A rare opportunity to capture a lively cultural dialogue, in which Romanian creativity shows its strength, diversity and spirit of identity.
In this context, the question of the visual artist Mircea Cantor brings more weight: “If art unites us, then who or what divides us?“. A reflection that summarizes exactly the stake of the festival: to bring together the voices of a culture in continuous transformation.
Jidvei traces a cultural axis between Bucharest, Paris and Rome
The Spirit Collection
becomes the red thread of a unique cultural route, carried out in three European capitals. Romania asserts its artistic identity through this symbolic Bucharest-Paris-Rome axis, in which each city tells a part of the same story: a dialogue between tradition, creativity and the Romanian presence on the European stage.
The journey begins in Bucharest, at the “Monica Lovinescu” Gala (November 19, 2025), where Spirit is presented for the national premiere, in the presence of writers, artists and diplomats who continue the legacy of a moral landmark of Romanian culture.
It continues in Paris, during the “Un Week-end à l’Est” festival, the largest platform dedicated to Romania in France, where Spirit is revealed to the international public, along with a program that brings together over 80 artists.
It ends in Rome, on December 1, at the Rome Opera, where Spirit becomes the wine of the National Day celebration, a moment when music, diplomacy and the Romanian community meet in a solemn setting.
This axis is not only a geographical route, but a bridge between worlds that share the language of the arts: literature, film, plastic arts. Spirit becomes a witness and partner of a Romania that expresses itself in front of the world with authenticity and courage.
Jidvei presents the Spirit collection in Paris
In the center of this cultural context, dense, relevant, deeply European, Jidvei presents the Spirit collection: three wines matured over time, inspired by the symbols of traditional Romanian embroidery and reinterpreted in a contemporary design.
Spirit is not just a brand project, but a tribute to Romanian creativity, a gesture through which wine becomes a cultural language, a signature, a landmark.
In Paris, the collection accompanies openings, meetings with artists, readings and key moments of the festival, introducing the French public to a different way of understanding Transylvania, through taste, tradition and sophistication.
“We created Spirit as a tribute to Romania: a collection matured over time, inspired by cultural heritage and made with Transylvanian craftsmanship. Our presence in Paris, in the largest festival dedicated to Romanian culture, is a joy and a responsibility: here wine becomes a common language between tradition, identity and creativity.” – Ana Necșulescu – Director of Communication, Jidvei
I come to the stories. The Romanian spirit in dialogue with the world
To capture the atmosphere of the festival, Jidvei writes a cultural diary, directly from the heart of Paris. “I come to the stories“The Romanian spirit in dialogue with the world” is made by Cătălin Striblea, Alexandra Tănăsescu and Sonia Argint and follows the route of Romanian artists through the city: iconic halls, bookstores, galleries, cafes, meetings with the French public, behind-the-scenes stories, reactions and cultural dialogues.
It is a personal chronicle about the way Romania breathes in the city of arts: a mixture of observation, reporting and cultural emotion. A warm dialogue between spirit, identity and the encounters that give rhythm to creation.
From Montparnasse to the Hôtel de Ville, from the Romanian Cultural Institute to the festival spaces, “Vin la povesti” becomes the mirror of a week in which Paris looks at Romania with interest, curiosity and admiration.
About the Spirit collection
Spirit is a collection of three Jidvei wines inspired by symbols of traditional Romanian embroidery, reinterpreted in a contemporary key.
Each wine carries a story of time, identity, craft and creativity: a meeting between Transylvanian tradition and modern aesthetics.
About Jidvei
With over 1,000 international medals and a position in the Top 100 global producers of premium wines and spirits, Jidvei confirms that Romania is and will remain the Country of Wine – both at home and on the European stage. The brand brings together over 75 years of winemaking tradition with technological innovation and expertise passed down from generation to generation, being present at major European cultural and diplomatic events – from the Pompidou Center in Paris and the La Fenice Theater in Venice to the Cannes Film Festival.
Jidvei is the largest producer of wines with Controlled Designation of Origin in Romania (DOC Jidvei) and owns the most extensive single-owner vineyard in Europe – 2,500 ha in the heart of Transylvania.
