Mikhail Drutse
But their husbands will be in charge of Invino’s development – the chairman of the Moldovan Sommelier Association, Mihail Druta, and his English friend John Strong, who has been living in Moldova for 10 years and working in an IT company. By the way, they met about six years ago here in an enoteca. John likes Moldovan wines. Their love of wine was the beginning of their family friendship.
Ludmila Drutse was the initiator of the acquisition of this enterprise. She felt that Invino could not be closed and offered her husband to take over the business from the previous owners. Mikhail agreed, but decided that it would be more reasonable to find partners with whom he could share not only all the laurels of success, but also certain risks. Mikhail offered John to become partners in the enoteca – a wine bar – to which the Englishman agreed. Mikhail Drutse was appointed director, and he was also the head sommelier.
From the former Invino the furnishings remained, as all the wines and glasses were sold out. But most importantly, the aura of this wine place has been preserved. The new owners bought professional glasses from the French brand Chef & Sommelier, the official partner of the International Association of Sommeliers (ASI), because you should enjoy wine from a good glass.
“We bought an existing business,” says Mikhail. – We only need to take one step to be fully operational. Nevertheless, the enoteca is open, guests come in and drink wine. The shelves are currently being filled. We have kept the Invino wine list concept – wines are grouped not by producers, but by varieties. And we are also sticking to the principle of product selection already established here. John said: “Let’s not sell wines we don’t like.” I agree. The wines that we can take from distributors we know. We taste wines from small winemakers almost every day. We select wines that get 85 points or higher on the OIV system, and they have to be interesting to us.”
It was also decided to rent the cellar that housed the Invino collection, which was assembled by the first owners of the enoteca. There were about 500 bottles of wines left from that collection, and Michael and John bought them. They will continue to shape the collection according to their preferences.
In addition, there are differences from the previous concept of the enoteca. If its creators wanted Invino to specialize exclusively in Moldovan wines, now it will also include foreign wines. According to the new owners, they decided to expand the assortment in order to diversify it. It is interesting to use this in comparative tastings.
“How can I talk about the uniqueness of Moldovan wines without giving comparative samples of similar wines from other countries for people to see for themselves? – argues the chef-sommelier. – That is why the enoteca will have classic wine from England, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, etc. The increased interest of Moldovan consumers, who are curious to try something new for them, also pushes to this. About 30 wines will be available by the glass. Moreover, even a couple of types of craft beer will be presented in the enoteca”.
Since it is difficult for wine shops to compete with supermarkets, the pricing policy for certain wines will be adapted (the markup will be lower) to increase shelf turnover and allow customers to become more familiar with the wines. Rare wines from the collection will be kept at the same mark-up level.
The format of tastings will remain the same – mostly blind. The first planned tasting will be dedicated to new wines from Radacini Wines, followed by Negru de Purcari wines produced with different technologies. In addition, corporate tastings have been booked.
Most importantly, they want to maintain the atmosphere of a wine lovers’ club. And also to attract young guys who want to learn to understand wine. The owners of Invino are not interested in a bar where people drink. An enoteca is a place where you can learn and expand your knowledge of wine and other alcoholic products, and, of course, conscious consumption is promoted.
