According to the OIV, Romania produced about 3.3 million hectolitres of wine in 2025, sixth in the EU, after Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal.
According to Wines of Romania based on INS, in 2023 Romania imported about €268 million of wine and exported about €72.5 million.
As of February 2026, according to Economedia, Romania still has no restaurant in the Michelin Guide. Hotels have held Michelin Keys since 2025.
According to the editors of the Decanter World Wine Awards, Romania more than doubled its number of gold medals, from three to eight.
In October 1981, rationing of about half a kilo of bread per person a day was introduced in Romania's cities, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
Food and wine: the short answer
According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), Romania produced about 3.3 million hectolitres of wine in 2025. That is sixth place in the European Union, after Italy, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal. Its vineyard area, 187,000 hectares, is the fourth largest in the EU. These are the numbers of a real wine country.
Most of this wine stays at home. According to an analysis by Wines of Romania based on INS data, in 2023 Romania imported about €268 million of wine and exported about €72.5 million. And in restaurants, as of February 2026, Romania still has no restaurant in the Michelin Guide. International recognition is coming through wine competitions, other guides, and the first Michelin Keys for hotels.
In plain words: Romania produces a lot of wine and drinks it mainly at home. Bucharest's restaurants have come a long way since the 1980s, and the international guides are starting to arrive. The move from queues for bread and cooking oil to an open market is one of the country's great changes, and its food scene is still building itself.
Wine: the numbers of a large producer
The data from the OIV's annual report, published in May 2026, place Romania in the league of Europe's mid-to-large producers.
| Country | Wine production 2025 (million hectolitres) | Vineyard area 2025 (thousand hectares) |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | 44.4 | 726 |
| France | 36.1 | 740 |
| Spain | 28.7 | 919 |
| Germany | 7.6 | 102 |
| Portugal | 6.0 | 171 |
| Romania | 3.3 | 187 |
| Hungary | 3.0 | 58 |
| Greece | 1.6 | 93 |
Three notes on the table. First, production in Romania varies a lot from year to year: according to the OIV, 4.6 million hectolitres in 2023, 3.1 in 2024 and 3.3 in 2025. The OIV notes that the 2025 harvest was 17.6% below the average of the past five years, after spring frost, hail and drought in the west of the country. Second, in the OIV tables Romania is ninth in the world by vineyard area, but only 13th by production. Our interpretation: output per hectare is relatively low, partly because of years of difficult weather. Third, in 2025 Romania consumed about 3.5 million hectolitres of wine, more than it produced.
The wine that stays at home: the domestic market and exports
Trade shows how thirsty the domestic market is for wine. According to the Wines of Romania analysis based on INS, in 2023:
- Imports: about €268.4 million, about 123,000 tonnes.
- Exports: about €72.5 million, about 34,400 tonnes.
- Average price per litre: €2.17 for imports, €2.09 for exports.
Imports are 3.7 times larger than exports. According to the same analysis, the imported quality wines come mainly from France, Hungary and Italy. In other words, Romanian consumers buy Bordeaux, Tokaji and Tuscany, and most Romanian wine stays on the domestic market.
This is interpretation, not a finding of the source: an average export price of about €2 a litre suggests that a large part of exports is bulk wine or wine in cheaper categories, rather than premium bottles. The quality brands exist, and they are the engine of the next step in exports.
We described the wine regions themselves, from Dealu Mare to Drăgășani, and the DOC system on the label, in our guide to the wine regions near Bucharest. Here we focus on the economics.
Medals: where Romanian wine does get recognition
In international competitions, there is movement. In their summary of the Decanter World Wine Awards 2025, the editors wrote that Romania more than doubled its number of gold medals, from three the previous year to eight. That is a small number next to France or Italy, but it is a direction.
Another institutional step: in 2011 the plum jam from Topoloveni (Magiun de prune Topoloveni) was registered in the European Union as a protected geographical indication (PGI), under Commission Regulation 338/2011. This was how a traditional Romanian product entered the European system for protecting names of origin.
The restaurants: where things stand with Michelin
The most common question about food in Romania is "how many Michelin stars are there in Bucharest". The answer, as far as we found: none.
The distance between a queue for cooking oil in 1986 and an open market in 2026 is one of the most tangible changes in Romania.
- The restaurant guide: in February 2026 Economedia wrote that "Romania still has no restaurant on this map". In the article, chef Alex Petricean said that in his view Bucharest has more than 30 restaurants that could enter the guide, at least as a recommendation. That is his estimate, not Michelin's.
- Hotels, yes: in November 2025 Business Review reported that Romania had received "Michelin Keys", the guide's rating for hotels, for the first time. Among the hotels mentioned: The Marmorosch, InterContinental Athénée Palace, Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard and Epoque in Bucharest. According to RHN, in August 2026 Romania had 25 hotels in the Keys selection, nine of them new.
- Starred chefs, as guests: the Taste of Transylvania festival, held in Bucharest on 16 to 18 October 2026 at the Village Museum, brought 36 restaurants and brands according to Business Review, including two Michelin-starred restaurants from outside Romania.
In other words, Michelin is already looking at Romania, but through its hotels. The restaurants are still waiting.
The other guides: Gault&Millau and 50 Best Discovery
Other guides arrived before Michelin.
Gault&Millau. The French guide launched a first Romanian edition on 14 May 2018, with 141 venues in six cities, according to Economica. In that edition Alex Petricean, then chef at Maize in Bucharest, was named chef of the year. In the 2019 edition, according to Playtech, more than 90 restaurants in Romania received at least one "toque", and Alexandru Dumitru of Bistro Ateneu was named chef of the year with 15.5 points. In October 2026 the address gaultmillau.ro redirects to a platform called Go-Mio, and the latest news there dates from January 2024. No newer edition of the guide has been published there.
50 Best Discovery. This is an online list from the organisation that ranks the World's 50 Best Restaurants. According to an interview in Revista Biz from December 2022, the restaurant Kaiamo in Bucharest, run by chef Radu Ionescu, was included on the list in 2019. As of October 2026 the restaurant is temporarily closed: its website shows a message that a new version is on the way. The current list of Romanian restaurants on it was not available to us at the time of writing.
Food as a sector: large, crowded and competitive
According to an article in StartupCafe, at the end of 2024 about 33,000 restaurants, cafés and bars were operating in Romania, and people in the trade estimate that their number has since fallen by at least 10%. The same article puts the average profit margin in the sector at only 3% to 5%. These are estimates given in the article, not official INS data.
According to the same article, the market has grown in turnover but not in profitability, and a representative of the restaurant association HORA said that the workforce is the sector's main asset. Our interpretation: for people living in the city this means a wide choice, but also a high turnover of venues.
The Israeli chef Joseph Hadad is an example of a foreign chef who has built a career here. We wrote about him in a separate article: chef Joseph Hadad in Bucharest.
Then and now: from queues to an open market
To understand the distance, you have to go back to the 1980s.
- October 1981: the Christian Science Monitor reported that Romania had introduced bread rationing in cities, about half a kilo (roughly a pound) per person a day. The paper linked this to accumulated shortages and a weak grain harvest.
- The 1980s: according to an article by the historian Mihai Dragnea on the website of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, many goods were sold only with coupons, and a photograph from Bucharest in 1986 shows a queue for cooking oil.
- April 1989: according to the same source, Ceaușescu announced that Romania had finished repaying its foreign debt. The price was paid by citizens, in austerity and shortages.
| The 1980s | Today | |
|---|---|---|
| Bread and basic food | Bread rationing from 1981, coupons for many goods | No rationing. Food price level, according to Eurostat, the lowest in the EU in 2024 (74.6 against 100) |
| The market | Queues, for example a queue for cooking oil in Bucharest in 1986 | Open public markets run by the city sectors |
| Restaurants | No comparable figure from a reliable source | About 33,000 restaurants, cafés and bars (estimate, end of 2024) |
| International recognition | Almost none | Decanter medals, Gault&Millau from 2018, Michelin Keys for hotels from 2025 |
| Wine | Large production for the domestic market | Still mainly for the domestic market: imports 3.7 times larger than exports (2023) |
One more figure completes the picture. According to Euronews, based on Eurostat, food is about 11.9% of household spending in the EU on average, and in countries such as Romania up to about 20%. In other words, prices are low, and incomes, which are still catching up with the European average, leave food a large share of the family budget. We wrote about household costs in the city in the cost of living in Bucharest, and about the markets themselves in our guide to Bucharest's food markets.
The scene's next stage
Today's Romania has a gastronomy and an abundance that did not exist here 40 years ago: rationing is over, the markets are full, and Bucharest's restaurants are earning recognition in guides and competitions. Three things mark the next stage:
- The first Michelin star. The guide already rates hotels in Romania, and restaurants are the next step.
- Wine leaves home. The EU's sixth-largest producer, which today imports 3.7 times what it exports, is starting to build a name abroad through its medals.
- Rising incomes. Food prices are the lowest in the EU, and as incomes rise, food takes a smaller share of the budget.
We went further into the history of the 1980s in our article on Ceaușescu's rise and fall.
Frequently asked questions
How many Michelin stars does Romania have?
As of February 2026, according to Economedia, Romania has no restaurant in the Michelin Guide. Michelin does rate hotels in Romania: since 2025, hotels in Bucharest and elsewhere have held "Michelin Keys".
How much wine does Romania produce?
According to the OIV, about 3.3 million hectolitres in 2025, sixth in the EU. Production varies a lot: 4.6 million in 2023 and 3.1 in 2024.
How much wine does Romania export?
Most of the wine stays on the domestic market. According to the Wines of Romania analysis based on INS, in 2023 Romania imported about €268 million of wine and exported about €72.5 million, so imports were 3.7 times larger.
Does Romania have a serious restaurant guide?
Gault&Millau launched a Romanian edition in 2018 and another edition in 2019. No newer edition has been published. The restaurant Kaiamo in Bucharest was reportedly included in 50 Best Discovery in 2019, and it is now temporarily closed.
What was food like in Romania in the 1980s?
In 1981 bread rationing was introduced in cities, about half a kilo per person a day, according to the Christian Science Monitor. Later in the decade many goods were sold with coupons, and there were queues, for example for cooking oil.
The bottom line
The distance between a queue for cooking oil in 1986 and an open market in 2026 is one of the most tangible changes in Romania. Wine exists on a large scale, the medals are starting to arrive, and Bucharest has restaurants that international guides have already noticed. The next steps are already visible: a first Michelin star, more Romanian wine abroad, and incomes that leave more room for eating out. This is a young scene, building itself fast.
Moti Azulay, Compass Group Romania
Sources: OIV, State of the World Wine Sector in 2025 (May 2026) · Puterea, wine imports and exports 2023 per Wines of Romania and INS (in Romanian) · Decanter World Wine Awards 2025: The big picture · Commission Regulation 338/2011, Magiun de prune Topoloveni · Economedia, is Romania's market ready for Michelin stars, February 2026 (in Romanian) · Business Review, Romania's first Michelin Keys, November 2025 · RHN, 25 hotels in Romania in the Keys selection, August 2026 · Business Review, Taste of Transylvania 2026 · Economica, the first Gault&Millau edition in Romania (in Romanian) · Playtech, Gault&Millau 2019 (in Romanian) · Revista Biz, interview with Radu Ionescu of Kaiamo (in Romanian) · StartupCafe, the restaurant and hospitality sector in Romania (in Romanian) · Christian Science Monitor, bread rationing, 20 October 1981 · Communist Crimes (Estonian Institute of Historical Memory), Mihai Dragnea on austerity in Romania · Euronews, food prices in Europe per Eurostat, December 2025
This article is for general information only and is not investment, legal or tax advice. Correct as of 23 October 2026. Wine data is updated every year, and restaurant guides change their selections. Restaurants and hotels are mentioned for information, not as recommendations.
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Now you know more.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult local professionals before any transaction.
