Round Table: Selling Central & Eastern Europe’s Appeal

By Andrew Catchpole

Published: 18 March, 2022

The less discovered wines of central and eastern Europe offer a fantastic opportunity for UK buyers, but primarily at a more premium level.

This was the message delivered at a recent Harpers round table – Selling Central & Eastern Europe’s Appeal – where specialist importers and on-trade buyers took a deep dive into the opportunities and challenges presented by countries such as Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Moldova.

Having tasted through a diverse selection of territories and terroirs, the panel agreed that the qualities to be found, with fresh, vibrant and individual character much in evidence, provided fertile hunting ground for those looking to differentiate their lists.

However, the nature of production that typically underpins such individuality is rooted in smaller vineyards and wineries, which don’t benefit from economies of scale.

This, suggested Olivier Freymuth, head buyer at specialist importer VIDA, means that any lingering perception that central and eastern European vineyards should be a source of cheap wine has to be overturned, with a focus on why the evolution towards modern, terroir-driven styles should rightly command a premium.

“There are a few [wineries] where you can get economies of scale, but with most you simply can’t get very cheap wines,” said Freymuth.

He drew a parallel with Croatia and Slovenia, two countries that have carved out a niche for their quality among wine savvy on-trade and independent buyers, where “if you want it, you have to accept what the price is, because there just aren’t cheap wines in these countries”.

Matt Johnson, UK export director at leading Romanian producer Cramele Recas, also with his own specialist import company Beyond Wine, is one of those able to offer bigger volume labels to supermarkets, but even at that level, he concurred.

“We are able to offer competitively-priced wines, but I’d call them ‘entry-level’ plus, we just don’t do really cheap wines, but wines that can sit on a list and sell well by the glass, but offering value at the price”.

For both Johnson and Freymuth, one of the best opportunities for the wines from this broad catch all of central and eastern Europe was to engage with typically more adventurous younger drinkers – people that have little or no preconception as to any past image of such wines.

With ample indigenous grapes underpinning an amazing diversity of styles, plus blends of international and native varieties to help ease the more cautious into such wines, restaurateur Duncan Watts of The Curious Group agreed that there were ample “stories” of authenticity and difference to allow hand-selling of such wines.

Marina Diaz, sommelier at Rare Restaurant group, drew a parallel with the young winemakers revitalising the vineyards of central and eastern Europe with their counterparts elsewhere that have been opening doors to overlooked and forgotten varieties and regions.

“In Spain, Italy and countries like Chile and Argentina, there is a whole trend among young winemakers to revive indigenous grape varieties, and people are getting very excited about it,” she said.

“And this can favour those [other] countries that are not so well known, working with their indigenous grape varieties, and this is the moment to get on the train, because there are thousands of varieties to offer.”

A final word went to Rob Maynard of Wild Flor, who said that central and eastern Europe has a fantastic opportunity to sell on “quality, quality and quality” as it looks to grow its reputation.

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