Spirited Diplomacy. Legendary wines from the Land. of Dracula waiting to woo. Indians. Romanian Ambassador H.E. Mrs Valerica Epure

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1 58 Spirited Diplomacy Legendary wines from the Land of Dracula waiting to woo Indians Romanian Ambassador H.E. Mrs Valerica Epure March

2 59 Legendary Wines from the Land of Dracula waiting to woo Indians The colour, culture and vibrancy of India fascinate Romanian Ambassador in India, H.E. Mrs Valerica Epure; and she loves to explore more of it. Having been here for four years, the affable and dignified diplomat loves to shop Indian ethnic prints and wear them with élan. A perfectionist to the core, she has a mission to promote Romanian culture, its tourist places and of course, its historically renowned wines in India. In a candid tête-à-tête with Bishan Kumar, she gave a low down of her priorities and shared her vision for better cooperation between India and Romania. Please tell us about Romanian wine regions, its grape varietals and major wine producers. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about one of Romania s trademarks, its wines. For hundreds of years, Romania has been known as one of the best wine producers in the world being blessed by its location in the South East of Europe and its opening to the Black Sea. It is well documented that the beginning of wine growing on the Romanian territory started more than 4000 years ago, and that trade with high quality wines produced here dates back since ancient times. My country has the best mix of ingredients needed for wine production climate, soil, and of course, the people. Apart from the Carpathians Mountains, the rest of the territory of Romania is good for wine growing. In 2008 the vineyard surface of Romania with five distinctive regions was the 5th in the EU and the 10th in the world; all of them are also outstanding tourist attractions: March 2013

3 60 Spirited Diplomacy Transylvanian plateau, in the centre of the country, known for its white wines, and better known for Count Dracula, of course. Moldavian hills to the North-East with mainly white wines; this region is also celebrated for its unique churches and beautiful landscapes. Muntenia, Oltenia and Banat Hills produce more red than white wines. These regions are famous for their historic treasures like castles, old palaces and exquisite works of art, such as Brancusi sculptures in the Targu Jiu Park. Crisana and Maramures to the North-West, producing mainly white wines. It is a region with pristine old traditions and rich folk culture, I dare to say, very rare these days in Europe. Dobrujda hills to the South-East, bordering the Black Sea, producing mainly red wines is also a popular touristy destination for the spas and resorts along the Danube River and the Black Sea. If you are a passionate traveler and want to taste Romanian wines than take a trip called Route of Wine in Prahova County or take the Dracula Tour as both include famous wine cellars. I need to underline for the experts of the trade that Romania is known for its best quality wines as well as the table ones. Starting with the 19th century, the assortments of local wines, exotic by name with an exquisite flavour, colour and taste, have been much sought after in the whole of Europe. Feteasca Neagra, Feteasca Alba, Tamaioasa Romaneasca, Cramposia de Dragasani, Galbena de Odobesti are just a few of the local wines which are produced in Romania along some other acclimated sorts. One can find more about these wines from the websites given below: My personal ultimate favourite is Feteasca Neagra, year 2002, which in my opinion is second to none in the world. What are the trade potentials between India and Romania in the fields of wines and other alcoholic beverages? Why Romanian wines have poor presence in India? Is high import duty on wines etc holding back Romanian wine producers in coming to India? There is always scope for cooperation between Romania and India in the field of wine production and trade. Romania is the 10th largest producer of wines amongst the states of the European Union and its main export markets are Europe, United States and China. While wine is part of the Romanian history and defines the way of life of our people, India has a different tradition. For Romania there is no other beverage My country has the best mix of ingredients needed for wine production climate, soil, and of course, the people March

4 61 Ambassador with husband Mr. Cristian Epure, First Counsellor, Embassy of Romania that can be compared to wine s large diversity in taste, the sheer endless range of varieties and the numerous production methods. For us, a glass of wine is healthy and it is a noble way of warming up your heart and enough for a twinkle in your eyes. India, on the other hand is a sleeping beauty in this regard because of its own tradition when it comes to the preferred beverage. But we should do more for our Indian friends in order to convince them to enjoy good wines. In my personal opinion India could also do something to diversify the choices for those who know and enjoy their wines. Our companies are very much interested to enter the Indian market and they have already made the first step. SC Murfatlar is already present in the market with its collection of Premiat brand. Has any joint venture, trade pact materialised so far between any Indian company and Romanian wine producers? There is growing interest from the Indian companies for importing the Romanian wines but frankly speaking the trade is hampered by a heavy barrier that is high import duties, which we hope to be lowered in the near future by signing the Free Trade Agreement with European Union. We should do more to promote the Romanian wines, while India should do more in embracing new products. One way will be of course, I repeat, the signing of the Free Trade Agreement with the EU. Let me immediately add that this document will allow a better movement of goods for the benefit of the public from India and from the member states of EU. I trust that the recent decision to allow retail chains to come to India will help the access of the Romanian wines very soon. What initiatives Government of Romania in general and your embassy office in particular are taking to promote Romanian wines, food & its culture in India? The Government of Romania helped the wine producers to access the European funds for vineyard conversion and regeneration, a process that started few years ago. This is part of the process of bettering the wine production for March 2013

5 62 Spirited Diplomacy Ambassador s take on women & her bubbly recipe In March we celebrate the International Day of Women. The whole month of March is a reminder for the tremendous contribution of the women in all fields of activity, including the care of the family and the education of the children. It is an occasion to celebrate women and acknowledge how much they deserve love, respect and appreciation from their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands. In our tradition, in March we are showered with gifts and love by the men in our lives. Ladies, for this special month for women, here is a present for you your personal glass production of sparkling wine. It goes like this: fill half or more of the glass with white wine of your choice, ad sparkling water to the top. Dip in strawberries and/or slices of apples for a little flavour and here is a perfect drink for the summer light and playful, and going perfectly with white meat, cheese and a nice selection of fruits. the benefit of our domestic and foreign consumers. It was also the government along with the private sector that sponsored studies to identify new markets for the export of the Romanian wines. It was this way that new potential markets were identified; China is one amongst them. The Embassy of Romania in New Delhi hosted wine tasting with the contribution of SC Halewood Romania and SC Murfatlar, which was very successful. We have already suggested for this year to continue this practice and to identify reliable Indian companies to sell our products. A number of economic missions, including the participation of wine producers have been planned. But I agree that for a country like India one needs more marketing, with more resources, creativity and innovation; because you deal not only with the promotion of the national brand but also to empower the wine itself. When it comes to the cultural exchanges, my efforts have been addressed towards the young generation, through meetings in schools and universities. I talked to them about the old history of my country and also about the new Romania. I have been successful to some extent since more and more students want to study in Romania and even more are interested to travel for tourism purposes. The Romanian film industry, having been awarded at important film festivals, is also very successful. This has, of course, drawn the attention of the Indian public and their interest continues to grow. Romanian theatre, folk, pop and disco music are also very popular in India. Maybe I should have done more for the cooperation in the sports field as Romania is well known for its performance in gymnastics, football and tennis, to name a few. Romanian wines have their own distinct character. Which of the wines do you think will appeal to the Indians who are largely brown spirit drinkers? If I were to recommend some local Romanian high class March

6 63 wines, Feteasca Neagra, Tamaioasa, Grasa de Cotnari will be my choice. From this category I would recommend for the Indian public Lacrima lui Ovidiu the most awarded wine in 2008, and the first Romanian hard liqueur, a combination of Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Muscat Ottonel. For ladies, I always advise Feteasca Neagra. Romania has many tourist attractions. Are there some efforts being made to increase tourist traffic from India and which tourist sports you intend to promote? It is only natural for me to say that Romania is and will always be for me the best place on Earth. But I invite your readers to come to Romania and see for themselves the marvelous places with stunning views and thousands of rivers, the unique Danube Delta, the high mountains, old forests, deep blue lakes. Believe me; God blessed us with a bit of everything, marvelous wonders indeed! Besides many other attractions, hundreds of festivals throughout the year, old castles, old legends, old traditions, and the new ones the list is very long and interesting. And what makes a huge difference is the amazing, hospitable, fun and cool people of Romania. How has been your experience in India and what is that you love about this country? I very much enjoy my work and stay in India and I love being here. I visited as many places as I could and I was overwhelmed. My special experience will be my first Holi. I knew that the celebration entails beautiful colours, but I did not expect that at the end of the day I will look like a rainbow or a peacock. I loved it! Speaking of peacock, an image that impressed me greatly was a small painting by R Tagore which pictures a peacock. It is a simple painting but yet, that proud bird looks to me like an extremely beautiful woman in a colourful saree. March 2013