Bulk of local wine production sold illegally
More than 70 percent of the Romanian wine production goes to sale on the black market and doesn't bring any returns to the Romanian state. The yearly wine production in Romania is of 550 million liters, out of which only 150 million are sold legally. The rest goes to self consumption and on sale to the black market, according to Ovidiu Gheorghe, general manager of the Wine and Vineyard Association in Romania. Gheorghe believes the Romanian state looses around EUR 100 million each year because of this. Most of the wine produced in Romania is white, more than 60 percent, but the most sought after wine in Europe is the red one.