Ethere are three very good and important friends in my life and from each of them I have learned a lot: Mihnea who strives to make me more technical and better, Iohan who teaches me the Balkans and empathy and Cezar to whom I owe a lot of what I am today from a professional point of view: he still initiates me in wines, he is the partner in most of the food and wine projects I have carried out and perhaps the most important: an interlocutor and adviser whom I wish to all of you.
Finally, after this subjective intro, we're on the blog and not the newspaper, let's get down to business. I realized that even though I already knew many of these answers below, the discussions would probably have remained at a table with some beers (I told you I wanted such a companion), so I decided to do this interview in which I did not negotiate a single question with Caesar, nor did I want to be comfortable. For those who don't know, Cezar is a wine journalist, founder and publisher of vinul.ro, organizer of profile competitions, co-initiator of the Romanian National Gastronomy and Wine Day law, co-organizer of the National Congress of Gastronomy and Wine, author of the volume "Connaiseur fău ifose" , initiator of the Pleșcoi Revolution, laureate of the Radu Anton Roman award, more gourmet than gourmand, more intelligent than hardworking & many others. Because the discussion is a bit more extensive today, I present the first part:
You recently organized TOP Moldova - a competition for wines from the Republic of Moldova. Why?
According to the majority of Romanian producers with whom I have discussed in the last three years, as well as from personal observations on consumption behavior in my social "bubble", the wines from the Republic of Moldova have quite authoritatively occupied the premium and superpremium segments of the large retail from us in the country. And in general, our market is the main export destination for wineries across the Prut, as even the National Vine and Wine Organization from Chisinau states. We are, therefore, talking about an important phenomenon represented by these wines, a strong recognition from the public - right for which we came to the conclusion that we must study it through the magnifying glass offered by a competition, because it is a topic of interest for the public targeted by we.
Romanian producers tend to have a Western and Asian vocation
I think the most frequent criticism of this approach is the lack of reciprocity. The Republic of Moldova is lessin the hospitalwith our wines, but we continue to be more than just a market importantfor sales, but also for promotion...
Honestly, reciprocity would be the best! A large wine-producing country, both in the "industrial" and "domestic" sectors, with a population of 3 million inhabitants, most of whom have lower incomes than Romanians - how and what kind of "reciprocity" could it offer Romanian wines?!? Otherwise, even the Romanian producers would not be interested in such a market - they rather have in mind a Western and Asian vocation, where the money and the tens or hundreds of millions of consumers are. Of course, in my opinion, they are not ready for such a market - or at least not at the level of the claims they make in the domestic market - but who am I to say such a thing?!? I better shut up.
What good is a wine competition? Is there an impact for the consumer as well? I am referring to a majority who are not aware of rankings and contests.
A contest helps a lot if it is organized impartially and professionally. As it helps everyone's mind, it helps manufacturers to know and position themselves in relation to the competition, retailers to negotiate and select, consumers to enjoy quality products. Contests provide an overview beyond the subjective self-promotional claims of producers. The results may or may not be picked up by the mainstream media, but they are certainly picked up by the representatives of the manufacturing industry – from Romania and Moldova – and by the decision-makers in retail and distribution: any claim of quality issued by the Sales departments of the wineries will have to be based on these concrete facts, established independently; any professional listing decision will have to take into account, in the equation, the "quality" factor; any contestant who is better in a segment will try to use the result of the contest to their own advantage. Among consumers, first the information will be taken over by an elite, by a narrow segment but concerned with quality, and in time, to the extent that the wineries will put such quality recognitions on their labels, they will also become visible in the eyes the broad mass of consumers. It's a long process, but it has to start somewhere. Personally, I believe that the visible promotion of quality is an interest, a need and a support for the consumer - he is better served when he receives certain guarantees of quality made by entities independent of retailers and manufacturers - and traders show care for by the consumer and generates added value when promoting wines with guarantees on the shelf.
Are the medals applied to the glass differentiators? Impulse vnoUmrile?
To the extent that they are used, yes – they are strong differentiators. When they are not used, they cannot make any difference. But they certainly do no harm – and that's something manufacturers should keep in mind.
I think that the prices demanded for Romanian wines reflect the current stage in the market – adolescence
I'd like to break down the shelf or marketing pitfalls. Look, for example, there used to be (I hope I remember correctly, I don't know if it still exists) a wine called Medaliat.
There was, yes, also a brand called Medaliat, and several called Premiat - the latter, even accompanied by the addition of "a Monsieur Henri Selection": I have no idea if there ever was a Monsieur Henri and what kind of selections he would he could have done, anyway it was irrelevant for the intended target audience - let's not forget that we came from an era in which the Romanian state, which should have had mechanisms to verify the claims on the labels, was profoundly ignorant. To the general public, they appeared to be "superior, export quality" products, the brand owner's claim was not verified in any way by any independent and professional forum - and I return to the public's important need for independent and professional certifications: traders and the consumer public must to force brand owners to provide proof of label claims – and such proof must be produced by independent entities. Without them, there will always be a spike behind statements like this.
Are Romanian wines expensive or not? Why?
It depends on how we define "expensive": compared to the purchasing power of the target audience, compared to the competition in profile? Personally, I think that the prices demanded for Romanian wines reflect the current stage in the market - adolescence - which comes with all kinds of high aspirations, which are going to erode under the effects of adverse forces (including, but not only, competition), and with the "adolescent" belief ” of the producers that they would be “special, unique and incomprehensible to the conventional thinking of civilians”. A long-term naivety and a provincial, marginal vision, as long as the average productivity per hectare of Romanian viticulture is far below the international average of successful countries in the field and as long as the creativity and personality of Romanian wines - at the industry level I mean - are barely "Developing". A country that is in one of the 6-7 positions in production in Europe and 12-13 in the world and which has a domestic market of only 400 million euros and almost non-existent exports clearly has a problem. The lack of internal competitiveness (and competition) "helps" this problem, combined with nationalism and the lack of education of the consumer public and the lack of professionalism of all intermediary factors - from large retail, from distribution, from HoReCa. Again, I'm referring to these routes as a whole, although I admit there are (very few) exceptions.
Are revolutions still happening in the wine industry? They are still inventing or just perfecting?
I think the only foreseeable "revolution" will be when China learns to export wines and consume wines at the level of production it already has. It will be a commercial revolution similar to the one brought by China in other fields – auto, IT, etc. Otherwise, on an international level, the big challenge is global warming. They innovate and improve - often starting from the reinvention of old products: Australia, the United States, Chile, even the Republic of Moldova are working a lot in this direction. On the domestic market, I don't think there can be any innovation and even less revolution in any way - "we are enough as we are, we are special" - the industry neglects important segments of the public: the youth, lovers of sweet wines with handshakes, craft beer and cocktail lovers alike. The more and more influential customs of international retail also make innovation more difficult - retail technocrats and officials have a low appetite for risk-taking, poor training and, consequently, an extremely rudimentary understanding of phenomena and trends, and less a willingness to anticipate and use them.
I notice the proliferation (even excessive) of events based on tasting, but it seems they are all the same. Do you think the audience will get bored? Should we come up with different concepts?
I think the audience is already bored. The "best" part of the public, the most interested and interesting consumers either got bored or "ankylosed" and were no longer able to go beyond the gustatory exploration of experiences based on... tasting. This ankylosing is, for me at least, a sign that this category will probably never be recovered - if they haven't already understood that there is MORE than taste, then they will never understand the complexity and richness of this universe. . The main fault here belongs to the promoters of such events: they use the same concept, the same direction and scenography and, to a large extent, almost the same text - probably with the quaternary conviction that they are staging a masterpiece.
hand photo: Calin Stan
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