Romanian wines "underrated" and deserve greater attention from buyers
Romanian wines, too often dismissed as “quirky” deserve to be given more attention by buyers, according to Premium Wines of Romania’s UK consultant Rob Marshall.
Conceding that Romania is “an unknown entity” for many wine buyers, he nonetheless claims it is well worth the effort to become better acquainted with what the country has to offer.
“Often Balkan and former Soviety Bloc countries are lumped together in the consciousness of wine buyers as being quirky, but not serious contenders in making quality wines,” he told The Buyer. “In particular, Romania has a huge advantage over its neighbours, with more hectares under vines (at present the sixth biggest producer in Europe and the most important player in the region), and also has many historic and ethnic influences as well as some striking and interesting grape varieties.”
And with the current trend towards more diversity, Romanian wine ticks all the boxes. “More experienced wine buyers have had their fill of affordable aromatic, generic Sauivnon Blanc or over-oaked Chardonnay and rae looking to try something new,” said Marshall, pointing to many fo Romania’s lesser known grape vareitals including Feteasca Neagrea, a native red wine grape.
Another benefit of Romanian wine, he continued, is that production costs are a lot lower than in most other European countries.
“While it has taken some time to convince some producers to embrace screw cap, and a fresher approach to packaging and labeling, there are some great value entry level wines made in international styles. However, there are also wines with greater complexity that develop with age and are worth paying more than £10 for".
Since joining the EU over ten years ago, more funds have been available to producers as well as for promoational orgnaisations such as Premium Wines of Romania, which was founded by Rodica Căpăţînă in June 2015 and consists of like-minded small-to-medium wineries from across 10 different wine making regions of Romania, sharing a common goal to show the international wine world the sheer quality and finesse of the wines.
This has encouraged an array of foreign investors who would find it hard to afford the land prices in established wine making countries such as Germany, Italy or France.
Romania’s key export countries are the UK, Germany and rapidly burgeoning markets such as China. “The UK is the wine market that every wine produce wants to be in,” said Marshall. “It is a large market, but can also be a tough market to crack.”