History

In the former Soviet Union, wines were produced in most of the republics of the USSR with the largest producers being Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia.  In 1980, the former Soviet Union (FSU) produced 4.8 billion liters of wine, over three times as much as the United States, making it the fourth largest producer in the world behind Italy, France, and Spain. By 1990, wine production had declined to 1.6 billion liters, primarily due to USSR President Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign during which vineyards and production facilities were destroyed.

Russia’s wine grape growing areas are located the Krasnodar, Stavropol and Rostov regions and the semi-autonomous republic of Daghestan, all in southern Russia between the Caspian and Black Seas. The Krasnodar region accounts for 50% of the wine produced in Russia. Wine was produced along the Russian coast of the Black Sea over 2,500 years ago in Greek settlements, and Georgia is considered to be the source of the first domesticated grape vines.

The wine market in Russia is almost entirely a table wine market. Still table wines include white and red wines from grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Riesling, Aligote, and Muscat and Russian varieties such as Rkatsiteli and Saperavi.  Strong or “fortified” wines are very popular; they carry names such as portwine, madera, or sherry. Sparkling wines are very popular in Russia and are produced from “wine material,” a technical term for grape juice that has been fermented either at Russian wineries or imported from other countries. It is estimated that as much as or more than 80% of wines labeled as Russia wines are actually made from such imported wine material or from imported grape concentrate. For wineries outside of Russia’s grape growing region, imported “wine material” is the principal resource.

In Soviet times, few Russian wineries had any bottling or packaging equipment. During this time, most wineries in southern Russia did not have bottling facilities, and their wines were sent to bottling plants in other locations of Russia.  Wines also were delivered in bulk by railway tank car or tanker truck to state companies and organizations for direct purchase by workers and their families commissary style. White wine was also sent to producers of sparkling wines for production and bottling.

There are good and even excellent natural  Russian wines produced in southern Russia.  By circumstances of economics and by choice, many Russian grapes and wines are produced practically with little chemical intervention.

The Russia Wines website only features wineries that produce wines from Russian grapes, either from their own vineyards or purchased from neighboring vineyards. Even with this restriction, we are aware that some of the wineries listed also produce wines from imported “wine material” or concentrate. To the degree possible, we try to limit our information to authentic Russian wines produced from grapes grown in Russia.