SMEs | Importing wine from Moldova in wartime

Moldavian wine is not widespread in Quebec. Nobody will be surprised to learn this since it is rare on the shelves of the SAQ.

Stephanie Berube
The Press

innovation

Liudmila Terzi works hard to change things: she decided to introduce the wine of her country of origin to her adopted land by founding the agency Les Filles du vigneron, in 2018. But the business plan of the young entrepreneur has been put to the test since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

What

For the moment, the wines chosen by Liudmila Terzi can be found in certain restaurants and with her customers who buy them directly, as private imports. But last February, everything stopped.

“The wines are ready to leave the country at this time of year,” explains the importer, who has not received a bottle since the outbreak of the war. Its reserve is now practically dry.

Moldova is a small country located between Romania and Ukraine. It is also a small wine producer if it is located on the wine planet, but in Moldova, viticulture is an important economic activity. Everyone makes their own wine, explains Liudmila Terzi, who named her business after her parents who followed this tradition. To be a commercially recognized vineyard, however, it must operate a minimum of five hectares of vines. So there are officially 335 vineyards in Moldova.

Les Filles du vigneron mainly imports wines from small companies that work with indigenous grape varieties, largely unknown here.

The path between the vineyard and Quebec is ensured by the importer. For a few months, Liudmila Terzi has been negotiating with new potential partners to get the bottles out of Moldova. The discussions have still not been conclusive, as the bids received show exorbitant prices.

“It’s impossible for me to pass on part of that bill to my customers,” explains the importer, who is now in discussion with the SAQ, which already has transport agreements from Romania, via the black Sea.

Challenges

When the company was founded, most of Les Filles du vigneron’s products left Moldova for the port of Odessa, Ukraine, by far the cheapest option. “Moldova does not have access to the sea,” explains the entrepreneur. So, inevitably, you have to insure a land part. Nothing to make things easier, Liudmila works with several small winegrowers, the transporters then have to make ten stops to fill the container rather than just one, which also increases the costs.

Despite these challenges, the agency wants to continue its expansion: around 85% of the wines produced in Moldova are exported. Several factors explain this strong interest in foreign markets, the first being the tradition of the country. If each of the families makes their own wine at home, why buy it at the market?

Another explanation has more to do with historical context. Russia was the main buyer of Moldovan wine until embargoes in 2006 and 2013 forced winemakers to develop new markets. And to make a qualitative shift, explains Liudmila Terzi.

“Russia was the biggest customer for Moldovan winegrowers, even after the country’s independence in 1991,” she explains.

The future

Now, young winegrowers and winegrowers are taking over the family estates and want to revalorize rare grape varieties, native to Moldova, which practically disappeared during the Soviet era. Government programs also support these small producers who want to restore the country’s wine heritage. It is to this group that Liudmila Terzi turns. Its wine portfolio includes international grape varieties, which are the majority in Moldova, such as cabernet-sauvignon or pinot noir, but also the little-known Feteasca neagra and Viorica, which it imports as a single varietal or as a blend.

All that remains is to find a way to bring them back to Quebec and, ideally, to extend their distribution through the SAQ. This is the goal of the winegrower’s daughter. “In Europe, good restaurants already have Moldovan wines on their menus,” says Liudmila Terzi. I think there is a bright future for Moldovan wines here too. »