Marketing Romanian wine (Part II)
It seems some Romanians cannot help but continue to embarrass themselves when marketing on the international stage.
They cling to the preposterous notion that Americans and other anglos are somehow captivated by a fictious character from 19th century Irish literature, namely Dracula.
While it may be fascinating for depressed 13 year old teenie boppers, I can assure you the rest of us don’t care at all. Attempts to solicit commerce from adults by associating Romania with vampirism will be a sad failure netting a handful of bozos.
And yet it continues.
In the United States, the typical wine buyer has never heard of Romanian wine. The few who have encountered it generally did so during the Halloween season at retailers promoting thematic oddities, such as a cheap Dracula wine and a subpar line of Vampire wines (whose ridiculously shallow owner eventually abandoned Romanian grapes altogether, to further fatten his purse).
Extending the farce, one can purchase from wine distributor Dracula Wines (a company so successful they apparently feel the need to run Google text ads on their website to make an extra nickel).
Romanian wine is, in effect, a joke to Americans. Nice job, people.
Amazingly, it gets worse.
In Houston, I made a nuisance of myself by asking every grocer or liquor store I strolled into whether they carried Romanian wine or could special order some Palinca. Nearly all were dumbfounded. Romania makes wine? What is pah-lean-kah?
However, at a Spec’s store in November, a chipper employee promptly responded in the affirmative and directed me to this tragic deposit of unsold “Halloween wine” gimmickery.
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:00 am
HAHAAHA!! Terrible!!!
I too, was looking for Palinca! Great stuff!
December 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
you forgot the disclaimer about the home made versions that are far better than many well known commercial wines available here in the US.
My father inlaw makes better stuff than alot of the Napa Valley over rated swill you get on American grocery store shelves.
So not ALL Romanian wines are bad…just the ones for sale!
Too bad…so much potential …ya know anyone with a buttload of cash? We can start our own damn vineyard!
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:01 pm
American Friend – I never did find a place that carries it, but surely someone must. I think if you get a hold of that palinca, you could be in for a weekend of trouble and regret. Hahaha, enjoy!
Ron & Maria – Actually, I’m not sure I ever drank the homemade wine. I supposed I should have given it a try long ago. I think at the time I was drinking home brew it was always palinca or megy palinka. What does Tati make, Feteasca or another?
H-Town Hustlas – You can find common Romanian wines at one store: the Phoenicia market on Westheimer. And while you’re there, be sure to grab some of the Bulgarian cheese — it’s amazing.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:41 pm
hehe, give the men a chance, we are trying, whatever works is fine. At least we can use an “icon” (such as Dracula) to actually sell something totally different, that has nothing to do with Bram Stoker or Bran castle.
So, I would call it luck, if you can sell shoes by saying they have something to do with one’s momma.
December 24th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
it’s a cross between feteasca & muscat…sweet with a bit of a dry finish…almost too easy to drink in large quantities with some mici on a hot summer day. Maria’s grandmother made 200 litres of tuica last yr. Their talents are diverse with the home brews. The cognac maria’s dad started in the spring should be just right when we get there.
Ahhh…can’t wait till January…plus one american within Romanian borders for another 3 weeks…wooohooo!
December 25th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Hey, man, drop me an email once you’re in-country and know your schedule for being in Bucureşti. If you’re here for a night or two, we’ll hook up for dinner some place. It’ll be nice to catch up a little.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Well, technically Palinca is a Hungarian drink, they registered the name so you are not allowed to produce “palinca” in Romania… see as an example (don’t know if there is still sold) “Tărie de Bihor”, it used to be called “Palincă de Bihor” but had to change the name.
January 6th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Say, that is a VERY interesting revelation. Thank you for drawing my attention to this registration business. I’ll have to read more about it as it seems rather scandalous at first blush.
Granted, I’ve known both Hungarians and Romanians lay claim to palinka and palinca. And since I was not around in the 11th century to see which culture first learned to make the exact drink after borrowing ideas from yet some other culture, I couldn’t say with certainty who is right. At this point, it doesn’t seem to matter. Hence, my surprise at some EU registration which would prevent Romania from producing it. I do, afterall, still see it sold in stores across town (G’Market comes to mind, most recently).
I’ll go learn more about the situation. Thanks!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I have discovered your blog today and I liked it. It’s always interesting to see Romania (I am Romanian) trough the foreigners’ eyes.
Regarding the Romanian wine, if you want to know more I can give you the contact of a very talented and passionate wine connoisseur. If you drop me an email, I will answer :).
January 8th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Quote from the international Wikipedia:
The production of palinka in the European Union is regulated by order 1-3-1576/89, which took effect on 1 July 2002. According to the regulation, an alcoholic beverage may be called palinka in the EU only if:
* 1. it is made 100-percent from fruits or herbs indigenous to the Carpathian Basin and grown in Hungary, or from pomace grown in Hungary, and does not contain any additives,
* 2. it is produced and bottled in Hungary,
* 3. its alcohol content is between 42% and 86% ABV.
The Romanian Wikipedia comes with something different:
În 2002, Ungaria a solicitat Uniunii Europene înregistrarea mărcii Palinka ca băutură naţională, astfel putând să fie produsă exclusiv în Ungaria, dar această cerere a fost respinsă.
I don’t know who is right on that…
January 8th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Interesting difference. I had read the Wikipedia entry just after your previous comment the other day. And edited said entry to include mention of production in Romania, since it is produced here — EU or not. However, your observation of the difference between English and Romana versions is quite interesting. I typically look at English, not just because of language preference (though it exists) so much as content depth because the Romanian version of articles tend to have very little information even about Romanian entries which has always surprised me.
So, I did a little searching.
BBC reported in 2002 that Hungary did get an exclusive EU protection.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/2563625.stm
According to a piece at Cornell University, the EU reversed course and gave permission for Austria to produce palinca (as they claim to have invented it, no matter who makes it).
http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/his452/Andrei/ContestedFoodinPostnationalist%20Europe/ContestedCuisine.html
If you follow the academic citations there, it seems Romania does have permission to use the name “Palinca” but possibly only because Hungary has graciously opted to not pursue sanctions against Romania. According to that summary. At the moment, I cannot find further notation either way.
January 9th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
A big LOL for me reading in the linked article “Romanians are the undisputed kings when it comes to annual production and consumption of the drink at over 450,000 hectoliters or 40% of the total alcohol intake” …no doubt about the consumption part :D
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:11 pm
jo cikk.