Alcohol in Romania: Beer, Wines & Spirits

Cheap and rather good, you should not visit Romania without trying a decent-sized sample of its various forms of booze. Best known internationally for its cheap yet good wine, Romania also offers some decent beer and very strong spirits.

Wine

The story of the Romanian wine industry is a long and complicated one. In short, it was very good, then the communist regime ruined it through under-investment and over-production, and now, back in private hands, it is improving apace. Almost two per cent of Romania’s total agricultural land is given over to vineyards, making Romania one of the world’s top 10 wine producers. As a general rule the best whites are made in the north and in Transylvania, while the country’s best reds are made in the south. There are many exceptions, however.

The best known wine making regions in Romania are Dobrogea (reds) and Murfatlar (which makes good reds and decent whites) in the south east, Dealul Mare around Buzau (which makes excellent reds, probably the country’s best, in fact), Tarnava in central Transylvania (whites) and Cotnari (whites) in Moldova. In the west, the deep reds of the Recas vineyards have an increasingly loyal following.

While Romania grows (very well) international varieties of grape from Sauvignon Blanc to (some extraordinarily good) Merlot, the country also boasts a number of excellent native grapes. The best local varieties are probably the noble, blackcurrant-tinged Feteasca Neagra (red), Feteasca Alba (white), Feteasca Regala (white) and the aromatic, honey-like Tamaioasa Romaneasca (white).

Our personal favourites (and we repeat, these are favourites: we are not claiming that they are Romania’s best wines) include the Chardonnay and Feteasca Regala-based brut from the Halewood/Prahova Valley winery, the Tamaioasa Romaneasca on the Domeniile Tohani label, and the semi-sweet red Rai de Murfatlar, a Cabernet Sauvignon from Murfatlar.

Also worth looking out for is Busuioacă de Bohotin, which, while too sweet for many tastes is a unique wine and one of few roses made in Romania. Another somewhat unique Romanian wine is Lacrima lui Ovidiu, a bold, strong, yet sweet and syrupy wine from Murfatlar, made from grapes harvested deliberately late.

Other labels which can usually be taken as a sign of quality include Davino from Dealul Mare, Stirbey and Jidvei (especially its Feteasca Regala), Corcova and Domeniul Coroanei.

Perhaps our favourite wine, however (at the moment) is the Merlot sold on the Vitis Metamorfosis label, a joint venture between Halewood and Marchesi Antinori.

With prices usually reflecting quality, you are advised to spend as much as possible when choosing a Romanian wine. The good news is that you will rarely have to spend much: prices remain relatively low and should stay so given the increasing abundance of great choice.

There are some excellent specialist wine shops in Bucharest now, including Vinexpert, Arte & Vino, and  Boutique de Vin, while Halewood/Prahova Valley has its own store in Bucharest. Grand Cafe Van Gogh has a wine cellar where you can taste and buy fine wines.

Of the supermarkets, Real has the best selection of wine, and is in fact perhaps the best place in the city to buy wine. Prices here are usually lower than at the specialist shops.

Beer

Romania has a long, proud history of brewing good beer, and while today there are just 20 breweries in the country (there were more than 120 breweries in 1989), such statistics do not tell the whole story of beer in Romania, which is far from being a sorry one. With large amounts of investment from big foreign brewers the country’s best known beers have been saved from extinction and improved, and in a number of cases new brews launched: the current trend for unflitered beer (see below) is one such example.

Fortunately for the visitor, improvements in quality have not increased prices: Romania remains home to one of the cheapest pints of beer in Europe. (We have long suggested that the country’s marketing people use the fact in their international campaigns!)

The best known local brands of beer are probably Ursus (which has been brewed since the 1870s - if you ask ten Romanians what the national beer is, it is likely that at least nine will respond Ursus) and Timisoreana (brewed since 1718). Both Ursus and Timisoreana are now owned by SAB Miller, which also produces the smaller brands Cuicas, Azuga and Stejar.

Silva and Ciuc (both owned by Heineken), as well as Carlsberg’s locally brewed Tuborg are also ubiquitous and very popular, while other notable beers include Interbrew’s Bergenbier.

Unfiltered wheat beers (bere nefiltrata) are very popular in Romania, the best probably being Ciuc's, though you should also keep a look out for Paulaner’s white beer, found on tap in a number of Bucharest bars and pubs.

Also worth trying is the dark, bitter Ursus Black, a very different beer to most local brews. Silva’s Strong Dark is similar and equally good.

Imported beers are popular amongst young, wealthy urbanites, and you should never have too much trouble finding the major international brands: Heineken, Carlsberg, Peroni, Leffe, Hoegaarden and Stella Artois are all popular in Romania. And while imported beer is usually a couple of lei more expensive than the local stuff, no beer in Romania is likely to cost more than 10-12 lei, even in a club or trendy bar. A pint (or the local equivalent) of local draught (la halba) beer costs from 5-8 lei, often even cheaper.

The one exception to the cheap rule is Guinness. Found all over the country (it is very popular amongst Romanians, who have taken to it like ducks to water) it is also expensive: pay around 15 lei for a pint. Some of the more exotic beers sold at Bucharest’s specialist beer pub Beer O’Clock are also rather expensive, though as some have travelled from obscure parts of the world the price is usually worth it.

Key Romanian words on the beer front include la halba (draught) and la sticla (bottled). Make sure you know what you are ordering: you really wouldn’t want to end up with a bottle of Guinness now, would you? In most bars and restaurants the menu lists draught and bottled beers seperately.

Spirits

Do not leave Romania without trying the local firewater, tuica (drink too much on the other hand and you might not be in any fit state to leave). Made with prunes and fermented in wooden casks this strong smelling spirit is lethal yet ubiquitous. Every male in the country has a supply (even if he doesn’t drink it) and will insist that his father’s/father-in-law’s/uncle’s etc. is the best. When made from other fruits, tuica is usually called rachiu. In Maramures, tuica is called horinca, but is essentially the same spirit, although many people will insist that the drink should be distilled three times before it can be named horinca. 

Similar to tuica is palinca, a more refined (it is distilled twice) spirit made usually from a mixture of fruits. Both tuica and palinca have exceptionally high alcohol content.

Other local spirits include the less alcoholic afinata, visinata and zmeurata. These are very light pseudo-liqeurs often served as aperitifs or a dessert, or simply as a lighter alternative to tuica when the occassion calls for ‘unu mic’ (a small drink). These drinks are made by taking small garden fruits (bilberries - afine - for afinata, cherries - visine - for visinata and raspberries - zmeura - for zmeurata) and leaving them to ferment in large glass bottles placed in the sun for two-three months, with lots of sugar added. Alcohol can be added to the liquid which forms to make them stronger, and these drinks can sometimes be served with some of the original fruit in the glass.

Other spirits made in Romania include two herbal concoctions from Transylvania, both similar to the Hungarian drink Unicum. Salvator is made in Csiksomlyo (Sumuleu Ciuc) and is probably slightly better than Transilvanicum, made in Miercurea Ciuc. Like Unicum they’re a bit of an acquired taste.

We should also mention vinars (which translates literally as Burnt Wine). It’s not quite cognac, but you’d swear it was.

Ordering

While things are changing slowly (especially in clubs and discos) most cafes, pubs and bars in Romania still annoyingly insist on table service. If you want a drink you will need to sit down at a table and a waiter or waitress will bring you one. Eventually. Go to the bar and in many places you will simply be told to go and sit down and wait. This rule does not apply everywhere - one of the real boons of the Irish pubs is that you can be sure that you can get your own drink from the bar - and as we say, this communist-era hangover (having bar staff and wait staff created more jobs) is slowly disappearing. For many thirsty drinkers in Romania however, it is not disappearing fast enough.