“Rose wine has grown a lot, it’s a fizzy segment. It’s in line with what’s happening in certain states of Europe. In Romania, this has been felt for about three years and growth has been very strong in the past two years,” says Daniel Negrescu, brand manager at Murfatlar.
In its seven stores (including the online store), Vinexpert sells several tens of rose wines, of which only ten are from France.
“Rose wine is a phenomenon as it maintains at a high level in autumn and winter, not just summer,” said Florin Bejan, the majority stakeholder of Vinexpert.
Vinexpert’s rose wine offer has expanded in each of the past years.
As a matter of fact, winemakers say another reason why rose wine is witnessing such strong growth is that it replaces sparkling wine. “Champagne has been to a very large extent replaced by rose wine,” said Daniel Negrescu.
Rose wine has also gained a place in restaurants.
“While it’s a summer wine, with fruity fragrances, there’s been a slight increase in sales of rose wine ever since spring, but not a very relevant one, as rose wine can be considered a chic wine, especially among ladies, which can be consumed in any season and that can be associated with a wide range of meals,” believes Diana Popescu, owner and CEO or Hotel Epoque and L’Atelier, the restaurant part of the hotel.
While it has gained ground on the wine market in recent years, rose wine has not yet reached the weight it now holds in other states. The upward trend is likely to maintain, say winemakers’ representatives, but rose wine is little likely to get to the weight it has in other countries as promotion is not equally aggressive in Romania.
“Rose wine is a phenomenon, but not of the scale it has in the West, where it has come to 14-15% of consumption especially owing to the marketing moves of some companies that thought they must bring the new wine generation to consumers,” says Dan Muntean, general manager of Halewood.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)