Uncorking potential in a far from vintage year(1)
A winemaker is only as good as its least expensive varieties, says Dan Muntean, managing director of Halewood Romania, paraphrasing the Alsatian wine producer Jean Hugel. And this is good advice to follow considering that in the past couple of years Romanian wine companies have been forced to adapt to a shrinking market. Muntean gave BR his verdict on the market and shared the scoop on Halewood’s new import business.
Simona Bazavan
How much wine did Romanians buy in 2010 and how has consumer behavior changed?
In Romania, wine is a culture-related product so consumers kept buying, but unfortunately they switched to less expensive varieties. Sales of medium priced wines were the hardest hit, we think. Looking at the total value on different segments, the market has shrunk between 5 and 30 percent but actual consumption has decreased less I would say. It is however important to mention that it is impossible to put together statistics that show the actual size of the local market – the legal market, household production and the black market.
What is interesting is that very few people realize how large the Romanian market really is. Up until last year, Romania held eighth position in the world in terms of consumption. It was then surpassed by Russia and China, two countries with considerably larger populations. Therefore, the local market is very important but this also shows that Romanians drink very cheap wine. If one were to transpose to Romania the same consumption of a country with a similar population, let’s say Australia, then the local market would grow five times in value.
How do you see consumption evolving this year?
Wine is a product of civilization, it goes hand in hand with the consumer’s feel-good factor. If the consumer is feeling happy and has the income to go out, throw parties and generally drink good quality wine, then consumption will go up. Other than the fact that next year there will be elections, I personally don’t see a recovery before the second half of 2012. The exchange rate will also have a say in the matter and we’re facing rough times on the EU internal market. So, it is very hard to speak about consumption increases or decreases outside the general economic outlook.
This may sound pretentious, but another factor that counts is education. The more educated the average person, the more wine is drunk. Trends count too although this is less visible in Romania.
Is it hard to sell Romanian wine on foreign markets?
It is harder to sell Romanian wine than many other varieties. I have to come back to this mantra – wine is a product of culture. It acts like an ambassador for a country. A buyer in a supermarket in Germany, for example, has only a few seconds to make a choice.
Price is of course an important factor but so is the image the consumer has of the country from where the wine comes. And from our perspective this is a setback. There are many people who know very little about Romania, its beauty and its opportunities, and still have negative stereotypes concerning the country. A strong tourism industry would help as people would return home and would look for Romanian wines in the shops. Still, we are optimistic and there have been some improvements in the past years, with more interest coming from foreign consumers and foreign media.
We have also been involved in a promotional project in the US supported by European funds, and another in the UK with the Romanian Winegrowers Association that we would like to extend in other European countries.
