Ardelean: RO+BG+MD lack visibility, not quality — joint black-grape story
Wines of Romania founder Marinela Ardelean tells CE Report that Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova compete less with Western Europe than with their own thin international profile. She wants export partners and buyers as the success metric, not press clips — and points to Mundus Vini Spring 2026 medals as proof of quality.
Three neighbouring wine countries share more than a border map.
In an exclusive with CE Report, Marinela Ardelean, founder of Wines of Romania, argues that Romania, Bulgaria and Moldova are not short of quality. They are short of visibility. The joint story she sketches runs through indigenous black grapes — Fetească Neagră, Mavrud and Rară Neagră — and through real trade links already tying the three markets together.
Medal maths backs the quality claim. At Mundus Vini Spring 2026, Romania took 105 medals including five Grand Gold; Moldova took 119. That is a trophy wall, not a beginners’ table. What still lags is shelf recognition abroad.
Mini-concept: visibility is a market infrastructure problem, not a tasting-note problem. When buyers cannot find you, medals stay in the suitcase. Pooling know-how across RO+BG+MD is a way to buy reach while keeping each country’s voice.
Ardelean’s success metric is blunt: export partnerships and international buyers gained — not column inches. The calendar next door for that joint Eastern story includes Treasures of the East / Vinul.ro in Craiova on 2–4 October, with a sample deadline of 11 September. That is a concrete window to put bottles in front of people who buy, not only people who write.
For drinkers, the lesson is simple. If a region’s best grapes never reach your city, the gap was logistics and storytelling — not the vineyard.
Remember: RO+BG+MD need buyers and partners more than more press; Mundus Vini already scored the quality.
Source: CE Report