Moldova is set to resume imports to Russia within the next two months.

Agreement between presidents Putin and Voronin at their June summit has paved the way for the return of Moldovan wines to Russia with the industry optimistic that sales will resume.

However, export certification will require 52 different analytical tests. Furthermore, all Moldovan wine will have to go through a single export facility, as is already the case for exports to Belarus.

According to reports, the Russian Federal Treasury Enterprise – SoyuzPlodImport – has won the tender for handling all exports.

Iurie Mudrea of Moldova-Vin believes that this single window approach will tighten up quality control. But he also admits that Moldova will not achieve the same volumes as before the ban, when the country’s market share was 45%.

Written by Caroline Gilby MW

Caroline Gilby MW
Caroline Gilby MW
Decanter Magazine, DWWA 2019 Regional Chair for North, Central & Eastern Europe

Caroline Gilby MW is a freelance writer and consultant, specialising in Central and Eastern Europe. Among others, she currently contributes to Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, The Oxford Companion to Wine, and the World Atlas of Wine, and has previously written for Dorling Kindersley’s Wines of the World, The Wine Opus, and Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report. Prior to her career as a writer, Gilby spent seven years as a senior wine buyer at Augustus Barnet off-licences, where she became the first major buyer to import Hungarian wines to the UK. She initially studied plant biology, in which she holds a doctorate, but abandoned life behind the microscope for a career in wine soon after winning the Decanter-Macallan Malt Whisky Taster of the Year Award while still a student. Gilby passed her MW in 1992 and has been visiting and tasting the wines of Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Romania for over 20 years.