Vasile Catan and Daniel Frumusaki
One of them is Denmark. For Moldovan wine producers it becomes interesting and promising. Currently, the main promoters of our wines in Denmark are Vasile Catan and Daniel Frumusacchi.
“Moldovan footprint” in Denmark started with a small company MoldoVin, founded by three enthusiasts (a Moldovan, a Dane and an Englishman) as a hobby project after they attended a wedding in Cricova in 2016. As they didn’t know much about wine, they sought advice from our compatriot Korneliu Tyulenev, who worked as a manager in a wine bar in Copenhagen. In 2019, Corneliu opened Not Your Usual – Wine Bar in the Danish capital together with an American female entrepreneur. Its concept is based on getting to know unusual wines, including those from Moldova. MoldoVin used to sell 50-60% of its wines through this bar. But in 2021, the partnership of the founders of the importing company broke up, as two of them left the country. Only the Englishman remained.
Vasile Catan, another native of Moldova, bought half of MoldoVin and managed to take it to the next level. In the first year the volume of imports in physical terms was increased ten times thanks to active promotion work – through corporate “B2B” tests in bars and restaurants, as well as open wine tastings Discover Moldova. Wines were supplied to HoReCa.
Meanwhile, Corneliu Tulenev invited Daniel Frumusacchi, who had specially traveled from Moldova, to work in his bar. As a result, Vasile and Daniel acquired Not Your Usual – Wine Bar in June 2023, and MoldoVin is now closed.
“Our bar is doing very well selling Moldovan wines, it no longer made sense to have both an import company and a bar. So we got a new import license for the bar and we import all the wine through it. We can also sell wine to other HoReCa establishments. I want to promote Moldovan wines on a different model, as their ambassador in Denmark, because I see the potential. I have contacts in big distribution companies. We can offer them to taste wines from Moldovan producers, establish contacts with them, and we will remain just as agents or a point of contact in Denmark and promote these wines,” says Vasile.
In his opinion, this sales model is more efficient than the one his company had, because these distributors have a large customer base. And one thing about Denmark is that so many restaurants and bars work exclusively with one distributor. Or they say they take some wines from other suppliers, but in any case they have a contract or agreement with someone, and work only through them. Since Denmark is a big believer in relationships, it is better to work through Danish companies that have been in the business for a long time. This new project is planned to start this year.
With the change of ownership, the wine list at Not Your Usual – Wine Bar is completely focused on Eastern European wines that Danes don’t usually know, but are interested in trying. And when they try them, they say they really like them. There are customers who come back and say, “We are already big fans of Moldovan wine, what else do you recommend to us?”.
Daniel Frumusaki, who is a full-time receptionist and sommelier at the bar, said that they are currently emphasizing local grape varieties. The Danes like tasting something new.
“Our sparkling wines from Radacini Wines are selling very well, especially Feteasca Albă. The white wine Trei Mândre from Divus Winery is already a benchmark for our guests. They also liked Rara Neagră, Viorica, Floricica. And Saperavi is a wine that sells itself. If I am tired of offering to taste wines, I just pour Saperavi for the visitors and they are satisfied. We want to bring Bianca from Crama Ulinici. For Moldovan consumers it is an acidic wine, while Danes are very happy with such wines. In this regard, the biggest challenge for us is to find wines that are fresher due to high acidity and with less barrel influence. Almost all wineries have barrel, barrel, barrel. We are advised to keep in mind that northern countries do not like such wines. And the trend is towards wines with more fresh fruit notes (not overripe) and more purity of flavor,” explains the sommelier.
Surprisingly, marketing costs at Not Your Usual – Wine Bar are “zero.” Their marketing is simply good service, with word of mouth spreading like word of mouth. Some visitors ask Daniel, “Where are you from?” – “From Moldova.” – “Then let’s try Moldovan wines.” In general, the service here is different from other wine bars. It is very personal.
“If you offer Moldovan wine right away, people, because they don’t know the country, are likely to refuse and ask for something they understand,” continues the interlocutor. – But we let them try wines from different countries. And when guests say that they like the wine, they ask where it comes from. For example, from Moldova. And some come specially because they heard that we have Moldovan wines. We are also invited to companies where we make presentations of Moldovan wines. Their name is growing.
