Julian (left) and Alexandru Buza
The eldest of the brothers, Alex, having earned a profession as a chef, left Moldova 18 years ago. He was 20 at the time. Since then, he has managed to work by profession in many countries – Italy, Monaco, Russia, Brazil, and since 2016 he has settled in Holland. A year later, Julian joined him.
“We worked in a wine bar in The Hague, whose owner imported wines from small wineries from Italy, France, Spain. One day he asked us if we wanted to import wines from Moldova. And indeed, why not? We created a company called Buza Wine. A year and a half ago we bought a restaurant in The Hague with 45 seats (plus 80 on the terrace) and called it Buza Restaurant. Its menu features only Moldovan wines, and the cuisine is Mediterranean,” says Alex, who is the restaurant’s chef.
Iulian works in the room with guests as a sommelier, manager and waiter. According to him, when people see Moldovan wines on the menu for the first time, they are surprised and not all of them understand what it is. Therefore, they should be offered to taste and told about these wines first. Mini-tastings are organized for all visitors to help with the choice.
“I ask them what kind of wines do you want – white, red, sparkling? – Julian says. – They tell me the type of wine. I bring three bottles of, for example, white wines, give them a taste and tell them about each wine. It turns out that our guests choose a wine not by name, but by taste. On the one hand, they are limited by the fact that the wines are only from one country, but on the other hand, they get a new experience through tasting wines that are unknown to them. I promise them that if they don’t like the wine, I will bring another one. We have a good assortment, in which in any case there will be something that will meet the request. Visitors are attracted by the fact that they are given extra attention through the wine”.
The restaurant’s wine list has so far included six producers from its own imports (Crama Mircești, TE WA, Domeniile Pripa, Fautor, Novak Winery, Chateau Vartely) and from another supplier, Radacini Wines. The interlocutors believe that small producers are interesting because they can provide exclusive distribution. Large companies work with big importers, their wines are present all over Holland. But for a restaurant you need something unique, from a different segment. Even with fairly large wineries, they agree to purchase some items exclusively.
The portfolio will be expanded, especially in connection with the fact that at the beginning of March the brothers opened an online wine store. There is expected to be a wider offer of wines than in the restaurant, including sparkling wines from Austria. This is due to the fact that in Moldova they cannot find wines in this style. Also, the increase in supply is necessary in order to make deliveries to other restaurants, as HoReCa wants to have something different from the others. But the dynamics of supply growth depends on sales.
To increase them, Alexandru and Julian participate in wine festivals that take place in big cities all over the country. In addition to introducing the Dutch to Moldovan wines, they are now also promoting an online store through which these wines can be ordered.
Our compatriots also organize tastings in their restaurant, private and corporate events in other places, exclusive testing “events”. Their frequent guests are employees of the Dutch Foreign Ministry, which employs over 600 people in its office. The thing is, the MFA in Dutch is BuZa. The MFA likes to come to a restaurant with the same name. However, other officials do too: employees of the Ministry of Finance had a banquet here for 60 people. And for an event organized by the Moldovan embassy in this country last summer, Buza Wine supplied the wines and Buza Restaurant prepared the food.
The most unusual place for the retreat was a school. It was organized by the director of the school for the parents of the students to get to know each other better and socialize. Six Moldovan wines became a bonding element for the 100 invitees.
“At all the events we can go to, we try to promote Moldovan wines,” Alexandru Buza continues. – Almost all the visitors to our restaurant are tasting and recognizing wines from Moldova for the first time, which we have carefully selected. We see uniqueness in these wines and try to explain it to other people. Our wines represent Moldovan winemaking with dignity. And we enthusiastically act as ambassadors of Moldovan wine in Holland”.
