Moldova, The Last Wine Frontier

by Evodio Walle

Have you ever wondered what exactly makes French wine so special? While a true wine connoisseur could explain it 100 times better than me, I can't help but think of the interesting role America had in making French wine so darn coveted and expensive. During the mid nineteenth century, around 1863 to be more exact, American viticulturalists nearly wiped out the entire European wine industry with a root disease they unwittingly introduced into England’s botanical gardens. Oops. Devastating as this incident was, during the period leading to the recovery of the vineyards abroad, the demand for French wines in the U.S. started skyrocketing, and has remained in high prestige ever since. As American consumers become more knowledgeable about all the great wines of the world, and access to those wines improves, a lot of the cache those French wines once held will likely soon confront a reality check not unlike our current U.S. real estate bust. As they were saying after each economic bubble we've experienced this decade: What goes up, must come down – to reality. C'est la vie, mon ami!

A quick side note: There is a well known wine marketplace that is soon about to dump millions of wine bottles onto the market by making many private wine collections available to the general public. Look out for headlines and falling prices everywhere.

Value Perception Smackdown
In a culture where we easily swing from the generically branded version of a product to the most popular of the lot (take for example generic vs. branded Tylenol), it’s especially easy to see how when it comes to wine selection we need vendors to help us make easier purchase decisions. Thanks to growing consumer interest in wine, and more flexible legislation around distribution, grocery store aisles have grown exponentially in the past 10 years alone. Nevertheless, today, the average wine consumer still lives in what is analogous to the pre-Starbucks Coffee era, where the vast selection of middle-of-the-road wines, ranging between three and six years old, is – we think – as good as wine needs to be for our wallets. Suffice it to say, most of those wines on the store shelves are quite average. Ahhh, the smell of fresh Folgers coffee wafting from that red tin can as you puncture the huge chrome top with the can opener. Remember those days?

Wine distributors, with their legacy distribution and pricing models, have for the most part created the “middle class” wine consumer; having established mediocre quality benchmarks for consumers to base wine purchase decisions on. Most consumers see the wine selection in grocery stores as falling into either the proverbial Trader Joe’s $1.99 “two buck chuck” category on the low end, or the stuff kept on the top shelves, usually sold between $30 to $90 as the high end category. Everything else in between is priced at around the same level, and where most of us try to stay. Under this value perception paradigm, when you want to feel that you are splurging, you simply dip deeper into your wallet and grab a bottle from the higher shelf; which might come from France or Italy, but in reality its quality may not be any higher than that of the locally produced variety of the same type that sell at half the price.

Regardless of our typical purchase habits or wine knowledge, even the least of wine geeks knows that a properly aged bottle of wine should have a higher value than it’s younger competitor. We seem to know this almost out of instinct or common sense, as the notion of something being good as old wine has become somewhat of a cultural cliché, although it’s also really a growing measure of what is now average consumer wine knowledge. Now imagine that one day you walk into your favorite neighborhood grocery store to pick up something special from the wine aisle to pair with your dinner. As you scan the shelves trying to recall which brands you've either liked or disliked in the past, out of all the confusion you suddenly start to find solace in scanning for a nicely designed bottle that falls into your sweet spot price range. Then all of a sudden, what is this? A 23-year-old bottle of wine boasting a gold medal, and it's offered at the same price as the rest! Something does not compute. Everything I learned about determining wine value, I learned from Safeway's distributors, and they learned it in kindergarten!

Grocery store wine distributor training video.

Yes, there’s so much more that goes into a purchase decision other than price and the age of the wine. There's also the brand, process, climate, soil, and countless other variables that go into a successful production year. All great fodder for a good wine marketing story, without a doubt. I would even go as far as saying that individually none of these variables is as impactful in marketing wine, as are all of these attributes when woven into a cohesive story that helps us understand a wine’s character. Moving towards my point, what if this award-winning wine not only happened to come from the same grape varietals as the famous French wines, but also happened to be grown on rich soils at the same latitude as Bordeaux, France, with the same advanced technologies and richer soil? Quick! Get online! What are our favorite publications and blogs telling us about this value phenomenon? There has to be a catch! Right? No. Welcome to the Moldovan wine country.

In my personal experience, Moldova is the land where one’s traditional value perception of what a good wine is, not only gets turned on its ear, but also gets recalibrated with every pour of a new variety of wine you taste. In my discovery, Moldova is the last wine frontier – a bountiful wilderness at the edge of the settled, global wine country - awaiting its discovery by the rest of world.

Big deal, you say. These great wine values are on the other side of the globe. What will this do for the traditional grocery store shopping experience in the near future? What will it do for me? My guess is, in the short run, nothing. There are way too many politics and old traditions to overcome in wine distribution before products like this go causing any major disruption all the sudden by going toe to toe with all that wine in the middle tier at the grocery store. The day you are able find a bottle of 1986 Negru de Purcari wine at your neighborhood store among the other $40 bottles, I guarantee it will be an experience to remember. Until then, I recommend looking for a boutique Moldovan wine distributor, or simply take the plunge and make it out there to Moldova and check it out for yourself.

As for all of you wine lovers who are curious about the U.S. wine consumers being on the verge of busting out of the wine version of the proverbial pre-Starbucks Coffee era, here’s a little investment tip for you: Vino Volo wine bars.

Shhhh.

Visit www.moldovawineclub.com

Getting The Booty Back

by Evodio Walle

That's right. Making it back home after traveling to Moldova without losing any of your wine spoils can be super challenging, especially the more successful you are at finding the good steals.

If you've ever ditched school, or hidden cigarettes from your parents as a kid, then you sort of know the feeling of trying to cross back into the U.S. wondering if maybe you've over done it with the wine stash this time. Rather than sensationalize the experience of overcoming cold stares from the Soviet-style customs agents at the Chisinau, Moldova international airport, or dramatize being stared down like a refugee by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as you hand them an American passport, I'll just cut right to the chase. Here is how you get your pirate's booty back home.

The big secret: The U.S. doesn't have any single, hard and fast rule on what is allowed back in. It differs depending on the situation.

That's right. This is exactly why you get all those blank, cold stares from fellow travelers on the plane when you ask about customs allowances for wine. No body knows, and nobody wants to admit it. So, stop sweating it out and wondering if you're going to get slammed onto the carpet at SFO for having brought back all that extra Moldovan wine with you. In the next few paragraphs I'm going to show you, the model citizen that you are, how to be a model traveler by helping the U.S. customs agents to do their job better and faster. After all, who likes to stand in line after an 18 hour long itinerary.

How can it be, you say, that the U.S. doesn't have a single policy on wine allowances when entering the country? For now, let's just say: who cares. I'm a business guy, not a legislator or CBP officer, so today we're going to talk about the "how". This post is about how to get you back home, safe and sound, after your trip to Moldova (without leaving a trail of sob stories); so you can quietly (or not so quietly) enjoy that 1984 Negru de Purcari you just picked up for cheap.

Here's the rub: The fact of the matter is that regardless of what U.S. customs may say on their site about wine allowances for personal use, each state in the U.S. has it's own local laws that supersede those general federal guidelines. To keep it simple, just follow these basic guidelines, and you'll be just fine. I've done it many times myself. As with tax law, it's illegal to evade (or hide from) taxes, but it is perfectly fine to avoid taxes. They grant those CBP officers so much power over you as it is, so there's nothing here that will be against their cooperation. Choose your words carefully, and never lie to them. You never want to be caught on the wrong side of the fence with those guys, as they have the power and authority to make your entry back into the U.S. very difficult to say the least.

As it states on the U.S. customs Web site, the general "personal use" rule for bringing in your Moldovan wine (or any wine for that matter) is that you can have no more than 1 liter (33. fl. oz.), without paying duties. To put it more clearly, that's a standard-sized bottle of wine, and a quarter. That's right, barely over 1 bottle! Who made up this rule? Read on, there's hope. At the same time, there is a U.S. Customs policy that says that items packaged together as a kit count as 1 item. Here's where you have to kick in your creativity and imagination. First pause here for a second, and think of that time when you've gotten the short end of the stick (or the long end of the stick across your rear, however you want to look at it) due to some petty technicality with how law was interpreted and enforced against your favor. If you've ever sat in traffic court, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's all about having your story straight.

Prior to landing, you always have to complete a the U.S. Customs Declaration Form at minimum, and possibly some other stuff, depending on what your visa status is. On the rear of this form, you have to declare the total value of the goods you're bringing in. You can have up to $800 worth of declared goods, per person, included in your duty free quota. If you exceed that (which I doubt you would), you'll pay a 3% duty on the exceeded value, plus a gigantic Internal Revenue Service fee of 21 cents per bottle. That's right, less than a quarter. All this time we've been afraid of having to pay that extra change for the excess booze. It's no surprise, considering how obscure the customs regulations are.

Ok, let's keep the line moving, we've got tired travelers wanting to get home. Remember we said that an item wrapped as a gift set or a kit counts as 1 item? When you pack your wine, have it boxed up, so you're only bringing back two units. Use your imagination, and you can bring back around 16 bottles like I do, per trip with zero hassles. Below is a photo of the stash that's possible with the standard baggage allowance. Shrink wrap two of these boxes together, and your customs declaration could read something like: chocolate gift, clothes, 2 wine, stuffed toy animal. Getting the point?

Each box holds 4 bottles securely in place.

It's up to you to secure the bottles, so they don't break in transit (if they can't sustain a 12 ft. drop, then they aren't packed properly), and to find a good deal on the wine, so you don't exceed the value quotas. I'm not going to tell you what value to declare, or what to spend. As for packaging, if you're bringing back anything that would retail back in the U.S. for over a $100, you definitely want to do yourself a favor and pack it properly. There's nothing like getting back home in the evening after a 19-hour trip and having to hand wash all the vintage Moldovan Muscat desert wine out of your "dry clean only" clothing before it dries and stains, instead of kicking back in front of the TV with a plate of fruit and cheese and tipping back a glass or two. If you can find some cheap, light birch wood boxes to pack the wine, use those. When I'm in Chisinau, I pick them up at the Cricova wine store downtown on Stefan cel Mare for pretty cheap, but they are also not the cheapest. So, shop around. The bazaar is a good place too look for odd stuff like this. Another thing to consider when trying to make the weight quotas at the airport, is to make sure you pre-weigh your bags prior to approaching the check-in counter. If you're over weight, you'll have to remove some weight, or purchase a "baggage unit". This baggage unit can run up to $250 depending on which airline you're coming back on. It still won't put you in the red if you got some good deals on the wine, but why waste. Plan ahead.

A medium and small suitcase will do just fine, and still leave plenty of room for clothes. Leave the heavy stupid stuff behind, like shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, liquid soap, and full toothpaste tubes.

Here's what you can expect the conversation with the CBP officer to look like on the way back in.

Customs agent: "Moldooovaaaa. (scratching his head) What was the purpose of your trip?"

You: (smiling, and chilled out) "Just there for a week as a tourist."

Customs agent: "Are you bringing back anything?"

You: (casually) "Yes, a few gifts for family."

Customs agent: (flipping the declaration form to the back) How much wine are you brining back?

In my experience there is a 95% chance that they won't ask you. But, if they do...

You: Just two wine gifts for the family.

Whatever the case is, the customs agent is not going to search you himself. He might request a more thorough inspection, in which case he'll just note something on the declaration form, meant for another officer up the way to respond to. Don't panic if they write something on your form. They do it to everybody. I don't know what all the codes are, but I believe that if it's a circled number 1, then you're home free. I've gotten other stuff written on mine, and have never had a problem. The worst that has happened to me (aside from being that guy washing his clothes in the middle of the night) was once I had my bags xrayed as part of an agricultural inspection, and the CPB agent scanning my bags clearly saw the contents of my luggage and said, "he's just got a bunch of wine." I had 16 bottles of super old vintage Moldovan wine packed in little birch, wooden wine boxes like those shown in the photo above. I was waved through, picked up my luggage and proceeded towards the arrival reception area. As I said, those guys have the power to wave you right through, free and clear.

In the worst case scenario, you'll end up at some table with your bags opened, and the agent will ask you if you know you're over the quota. Just say, "oh, these are just two gifts (gifts for you or whoever, but still)" A gift or personal use is the same. You never want to say anything that may indicate you're going to sell them. That would be commercial use, and you'll be stopped in your tracks. Game over. (Good fodder for another future blog post, though.) Instead, you can improvise and throw a stupid question out there, so the agent will have a chance to school you on something, warm up to you, and realize that you're just a regular person. If worse comes to worst, and you do pay, it will likely be under $20. Just make sure you have some American cash, a credit card, or a personal check with your name on it, and some identification. Just pay the fees and go home. You've made it through unscathed; this time.

Visit www.moldovawineclub.com

What exactly is the Moldovan wine scene?

by Evodio Walle

If you've ever been to the Napa wine country in California, you've caught a glimpse of a commercial culture that is undoubtedly defining itself by the prestige of the local grapes and wine production. A quick stop to one of local restaurants along Highway 29, and you’d think you’ve reached the epicenter of where it all began, yet the fact is that per capita, Americans consume a mere 8.37 liters of wine per year compared to the French who chug 55.85 liters of the stuff each year. (1) That’s a lot of vino, amigo.

For the French, not having wine at a meal has to be analogous to say my mom not having tortillas at the table. God forbid. What I discovered during my first trip to Moldova was a quaint little culture where the cultural staple, wine, was as present in the lives of the Moldavians in ways I’d never imagined. So, what is the Moldovan wine scene exactly? In the famous words of Mark Twain:

“If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.”

What I can say is that thanks to the amazing hospitality of my friend, Serghei, the first impressions I got of the Moldovan wine culture were some to be cherished. My first treat was a tour of the world’s largest wine collection at the state run Milestii Mici winery, where the wine city consists of tunnels hundreds of kilometers long, 60 meters beneath the surface.

While the monument of a wine attraction was certainly a memorable experience, the experiences I carry with me are the simpler ones, such as drinking homemade wine, or finding an endless supply of ’83 vintage Negru de Purcari red wine at $32 USD per bottle. I can barely make it out of the Safeway grocery store with a decent gift bottle for twice that much, let alone one that I know will be good. By contrast, most Moldovan grocery stores carry a decent stock of wines that have won awards in the European circles of wine aficionados. I have to admit, I have to be told by those in the know what’s good and what’s not because I hate gambling even if it’s five bucks. But, point me to a bottle that has a gold medal or Grand Prix award, and it’s on. What? They’re $32 bucks a bottle? I’ll take a case. In fact, give me three cases. Would you believe that I have been able to bring back 16 bottles of wine in my personal luggage? I promise to write more about that in a future blog post. For now, Shhhh.

Right now, I can’t possibly continue to rant on and on about the Moldovan wine experience without first saying thanks to a group of close friends who where there since the beginning.

Serghei Culicovschi, if it weren’t for that spontaneous email I received from you over 3 years ago, looking for Web projects, to this day I wouldn’t even know where Moldova is and I wouldn’t be writing this blog. One thing for sure, is I’d have a flat screen TV in each room with all the money I’d saved in air fare. :D Still, thanks buddy. Life is much more colorful experienced directly than through any TV. You’re the man.

Nelly Papcova and Galya Curmeli, you were both a source of endless laughs, especially during times when I wasn’t in the best of spirits. Thank you for being there, and for being such clowns.

I’d especially like to thank all my newer friends for making each trip to Moldova as hospitable as possible. I hope to someday have the opportunity to return the favor. Mi casa es su casa.

A quick update on the wine import business:

Vendors are in place, the site is almost ready, and import licenses are pending. Irina and I are looking at a Fall ’09 launch. Hopefully in time for the October wine festival in Chisinau. More details to follow, so stay tuned.

(1) “World Fact Book”, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), December 2006

Visit www.moldovawineclub.com