A Journey into Romania’s Wine, Culinary, and Travel Treasures

The objective of Royal Romanian is to introduce visitors to Romanian wines that stand toe to toe with those from renowned wine regions such as Napa Valley, California, and Bordeaux, France. Our aim is to familiarize you with grape varietals native to Romania, their rich history, and their place in the modern-day wine industry. Additionally, we will guide you through travel and culinary adventures in Romania—experiences that go hand in hand for wine lovers, especially when it comes to wine pairings with food.

My first trip to Romania with my wife was over ten years ago, before we were married. I was amazed at how welcoming everyone was and how at home they made me feel, along with the bounty of food and drink I was always offered when visiting someone’s home. At our wedding in Romania two years after my first visit, I witnessed the same red-carpet treatment rolled out for my American family and friends who traveled to Romania to attend our wedding. I thought to myself: Romanians make all guests feel like royalty. This thought led me to buy the domain RoyalRomanian.com.

Working in sales in Silicon Valley didn’t give me much free time to decide how to bring RoyalRomanian.com to life. My wife and I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for ten years after we were married. There are so many great day trips and weekend trips to take from the Bay Area, including to Napa Valley, where we visited several times a year and explored numerous wineries over the years.

Working in semiconductor sales and entertaining customers at fine-dining restaurants in Silicon Valley, I had the luxury of drinking some of the finest wines from Napa Valley, mainly big, bold Cabernet Sauvignons that had been aged for many years and were silky smooth. We also have several friends who are wine connoisseurs, and through them, we tasted some of the finest bottles of wine—both red and white—that Napa Valley has to offer.

In 2020, when the pandemic hit, we began to explore wines beyond Napa Valley and beyond Cabs, as we found excellent wines in our own backyard, the Santa Cruz Mountains. We discovered that visiting these wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains, or those a couple of hours south in Paso Robles, was a much more enjoyable experience than what Napa wineries had become—overcrowded. We still love Napa and are thankful we have friends there who are members of some of the best wineries, but we now love Napa more for its culinary experiences. I still get my big, bold aged Cab fix when we go there, and my wife enjoys tasting the best buttery Chardonnays.

As we started exploring wineries outside of Napa Valley, we also began to find other varietals that we really enjoyed at much better price points. I remember the first time I went to Loma Prieta Winery for a tasting and discovered a Cabernet Franc that I absolutely loved. From that day at Loma Prieta onward, we continued to explore wineries in the Santa Cruz Mountains and kept finding bottles we truly enjoyed.

Interestingly, the experience I just described is a good analogy for Romanian wines, as the Director of Sales at Licorna Winehouse in Dealu Mare, Romania, told his audience at my first tasting there. He said, “Romania has some really good bottles of wine; you just need to find them.” Since becoming an enthusiast of Romanian wines, this website is here to help you do just that—find great bottles of Romanian wines, just as I found in the Santa Cruz Mountains and as I am now finding in Romania.

Come to Romania to see Old Town Bucharest, Bran Castle, Peleş Castle in Sinaia, Sibiu, Sighișoara, and the bears of the Transfăgărășan, but stop along the way to visit its amazing wineries. Be treated like royalty at Romanian wineries and discover a really good bottle of wine or two along the way. My enthusiasm for great wine in Napa Valley and my enthusiasm for discovering excellent wines beyond Napa Valley is why I decided to focus RoyalRomanian.com on Romanian wineries and our experiences visiting them, staying at their cazares, and eating at their restaurants. I think you’ll understand more as you journey along with my wife and me in the Royal Romanian blog.

I’ve begun this journey in the Dealu Mare wine region, known as Romania’s premier region for red wines, though it also features exceptional white wines. Over time, we will venture well beyond Dealu Mare. Come along and enjoy!

I am by no means a wine connoisseur, but I love learning about wines and want to share my experiences. My wife and I are now living in Europe and spending a lot of time in Romania, where we are learning more about the history of viticulture, discovering native grape varieties, and uncovering the legacy of vines brought here by the Romans. And yes—you can find some really good bottles of wine here!