RussiaWines

Vinzavod, literal translation “wine factory,” was the term used in the former Soviet Union and now in Russia for the plant and facilities that manufacture a grape-flavored alcoholic beverage called vino (wine). Many of the Soviet Union’s largest vinzavods were located and continue to operate in the big cities far north of the grape growing areas of southern Russia. Three of the biggest are in Moscow. Another in Moscow has been converted to a trendy modern art district.

In Soviet Russia, except in parts of the south, vino production for the masses became a technical process divorced from the messy, fussy, expensive, capital-intensive and weather-dependent nurture and growth of wine grapes. Missing was the romance of “terroir,” the relationship between grape, climate, sun and soil so valued by Old World winemakers for centuries and New World winemakers for generations. Although winemaking thrived along the Black Sea coast in Greek villages 2,500 years ago, Russia’s first wineries opened there only towards the end of the 19th century. The development of the art of winemaking, the winemaker’s link between the vineyard and the process of vinification, was stunted after the Revolution.
In the Russian vinzavod of today, vino-material (fermented grape juice) is the principal ingredient. It comes from one or a combination of sources: bulk wine imported by container or grape concentrate shipped by the barrel from countries such as Tunisia, Spain or Chile, or from grapes produced in southern Russia in the regions between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The vineyards of southern Russia do not produce nearly enough grapes to meet domestic consumer demand, and they are neither cost- nor quality-competitive with large western grape producers. Other ingredients of Russian vino could include sugar, alcohol, and essences and aromatics produced in Eastern and Central Europe such as “essence of Riesling.”
Read more in Passport Magazine

(Passport Magazine December 2009)The past two Passport wine articles covered the Russian and Ukrainian wine industries respectively. Although there is seldom news on Russia’s wine industry to report, during October Jancis Robinson, one of the world’s best known wine experts, visited the Kuban to see several wineries that employ Australian flying winemaker John Worontschak: Fanagoria, Mysakho and the remnants of Sauk Dere. The results of this pioneering visit by a western wine journalist were reported in the Financial Times on October 24 in her article “Russia’s wild world of wine.” Ms. Robinson was able to sample some of Mr. Worontschak’s excellent work with some of the wines from Fanagoria and Myskhako. There is not much left of the Sauk Dere. I visited a few years ago; the remnants, primarily a collection of older wines, were acquired recently by Myskhako.

Ms. Robinson also visited Abrau Durso, Russia’s historic sparkling wine producer on the coast near Novorossisk, but unfortunately in the brief visit did not have a chance to see Chateau Le Grand Vostock, which is clearly by an order of magnitude or two Russia’s leader in terms of modern wine production.

The problem with selecting a Russian wine, as Ms. Robinson pointed out in a later article is “sorting out which wines labeled as Russian are made with some or all Russian-grown grapes and which constitute the 70% or so that contain non- Russian wine imported in bulk.” The industry has been glacially slow to change, but during the past two years there have been several other, young promising developments in the region. Ms. Robinson’s visit brings hope that others will follow to shine some light into a region that surely will have more attention during the run-up to the 2014 Olympics. Read more…