Photos by – Adil Arora

The Show was organised by UBCCR-the Union of Bilateral Chambers of Commerce from Romania, supported by their Embassy with Ambassador H.E. Ms. Sena Latif present on both days, showing a commitment of her country to increase trade with India, in the span of less than a year of taking charge. She emphasized at the Masterclass she attended, that Romania was a member of the European Union and was taking big strides and she wanted the trade between the two countries to increase significantly, especially wines which were a big part of the culture and history of Romania.

President of the UBCCR, Shieva Munjal who leads from the front had been working tirelessly for months for the Summit, says the Chamber is dedicated to facilitate business between Romania and India with emphasis on wines and food. She asserted this was just the beginning and the Chamber was committed to introducing Romanian wines to India and that it would be a creditable facilitator. She also pointed out that the Chamber was in talks with the Romanian national airlines Tarom Airways in an effort to have a direct flight between the two countries to increase tourism (Georgia has been a recent example).

Romania is known for indigenous varieties and Cotnari Winery is a well- respected name for quality wines in the Moldovan Hills region in the North-east of Moldova. Cotnari winery has been named after the region. Victor Deleanu CEO of the company had come with his team of George Malutan, the Winemaker and Mihai Necula, the Export Manager to explore the market- the first two being sizable shareholders of the company.

Cotnari is a well-respected name in the wine business in Romania. Founded in 1956 during the then communist regime, it has always been using indigenous grapes with about 1750 hA of vine surface. According to Prof. Alexandra Galbeaza who owns a wine tourism business in Bucharest, Cotnari is perhaps the only wine company in Romania, making wines from authentic indigenous grapes of Romania and is a highly respected company. In fact, they make only DOC wines of quality’.  Privatized in 2000 when Romania allowed private and foreign participation, it is one of the three companies that own around 50% of the Romanian market share.

Cotnari has about 78 labels out of which they selected 18 for the Show at Pullman Aerocity on 3-4 June. They make wines from entry level to super premium levels at various price points- making from Mini bottles for Restaurants and also Magnums labeled as 2XL, in interesting, chic labels. There is also a range of Bordeaux bottles for Private Labels. Like wines in all EU nations, the minimum standards have to be maintained.

As Victor asserted, entry into EU in 2007 was a defining moment for Romanian wines to improve quality at a fast pace and it can well be considered as the beginning of the modern era though wine has been there for thousands of years with their signature grape Grasă de Cotnari known to exist for over 500 years. Wines can be sweet-to-dry depending on the market requirements. Cotnari focused on sweet wines during the Communist regime, from 1956 to 1989 and in fact has over a million bottles of each vintage from 1956, are maturing in their cellars, with another million and a half for the current market.

Victor took a mental note that visitors loved their wines but found them on a slightly sweet side. ‘Drier wines are the current taste universally and we will keep bringing such wines in India in future,’ he says. He has been very encouraged by the response of the market and Cotnari intends to focus much more on India in future.

Also Read : Wine Secrets of Romania

Another Article in the next edition will focus on the Masterclass ‘Wine Secrets of Romania- two editions of which were attended by the full house of over 40 people. Several short videos on the ‘INRO Summit 2025’ with a focus on Cotnari wines have also been posted on Facebook @ (Subhash.Arora.39) and Instagram @wineguyindia for our readers.

Subhash Arora