Crimean wines (155). Beware of fakes: how to choose real Crimean Elite Crimean wines
The masterpieces of Crimean winemakers are guaranteed to delight the most discerning connoisseurs and will decorate the table at any banquet.
The main advantage of Crimean wine is its naturalness and richness, says sommelier Natalya Goncharova. “When I try French wine, I don’t even understand why they pay so much money for it. Simple water, slightly sour. And our wine is rich, you can feel the taste and aroma,” she says. For many years, Natalya Semenovna conducted tastings, including for foreign guests. He says that foreigners were especially captivated by vintage and collection wines, with their rich taste and rich aroma. So that the reader does not reproach us for subjectivity - after all, Natalya lives in Crimea, Respublika turned to the famous Moscow taster Denis Rudenko.
“Traditionally, fortified sweet wines are considered the best wines of Crimea. This is explained by the fact that in the conditions of Crimea (especially the Southern Coast), grapes accumulate a large amount of sugar at the time of ripening (the sugar content of the must can reach 26-28%) and dry wines from such grapes would be too heavy and alcoholic,” notes the Russian taster.
1. “White Muscat of Red Stone” (“Massandra”)
Type: Liqueur white.
Alcohol - 13%, sugar - 230 g/l.
In 1940, winemaker Alexander Egorov glorified Crimea throughout the world by creating the famous Massandra wine from grapes growing exclusively under the Red Stone rock, near Gurzuf. At international tasting competitions, “Red Stone White Muscat” was twice declared the best wine in the world, in addition, it has seventeen gold and one silver medals. “White Muscat of Red Stone” is highly valued by Queen Elizabeth II of England. They say that in the 60s, Massandra annually sent a two-hundred-liter barrel of this nutmeg to Great Britain through the Leningrad port - especially for Her Majesty’s table. However, the wine earned the title “king of muscats” not because of the queen’s gastronomic preferences, but because of its unique, exquisite bouquet. According to Denis Rudenko, it contains tones of tea rose, dry herbs, dried orange peel, and a slight hint of caraway. “The taste is characteristic of dessert Muscat, full, with good acidity. Tones of dried rose petals, dark honey, dried apricots, fresh orange peel and spices,” notes the taster.
Price: 180-200 hryvnia per bottle.
2. “New World Pinot Franc” brut (New World sparkling wine factory)
Type: Champagne rose.
Alcohol - 11.5%, sugar - 12 g/l.
Grapes: French variety Pinot Noir, grown on rocky soils in the vicinity of Sevastopol.
The first champagne in Russia was made in Crimea. It was sparkling wine “Ai-Danil”, which in the 1840s was aged in the wine cellars of Prince Mikhail Vorontsov. True, it was not of high quality, and, in the end, production ceased. The history of Crimean champagne was continued by Prince Golitsyn, who founded a sparkling wine factory in the Novy Svet estate in 1878. Twenty years after the founding of the plant, sparkling wine began to be produced in industrial quantities and delivered to the imperial court - they were even allowed to place the coat of arms of the Russian Empire on the bottles.
One of the most striking products of the Crimean wine yard is the collection champagne “New World Pinot Franc”. It is made from Pinot noir (French: Black Cone) grapes - the variety got its name because of the cone-like shape of the bunch. Champagne gets its pink hue naturally, as the skin of the grapes is black. Tasters note the wine's light floral aroma, oiliness and candy-like flavor.
Price: 135-170 hryvnia.
3. “Black Doctor” (“Sunny Valley”)
Type: Dessert red.
Alcohol - 16%, sugar - 160 g/l.
Grapes: Indigenous varieties Ekim Kara, Cevat Kara and Kefesia.
The sonorous name made this wine a leader in the number of all kinds of fakes. Perhaps no other Crimean wine has so many clones and imitators. You will definitely meet the “Black Doctor” both in roadside eateries and in street shops, where unassuming holidaymakers are treated to cheap liquor.
The real and only producer of this vintage dessert red wine was and remains the Solnechnaya Dolina winery. “Black Doctor” is interesting for its varietal composition, which includes the rare indigenous variety Ekim Kara. It is curious that when transferred to other places and regions, these same varieties can produce higher yields, but at the same time lose their unique properties. The production of wine from indigenous varieties began half a century ago: first the drink was called “Dessert Red”, then “Ruby Crimean”, and in 1967 it received the name “Black Doctor” (Ekim Kara).
“The aroma is not too strong, with tones of cherry jam, prunes, suede, light notes of almond and dark chocolate. The taste is rich, predominantly cherry-prune. The aftertaste contains hints of cocoa and cream,” Denis Rudenko describes this wine.
Price: 170-220 hryvnia.
4. “Bastardo of Cimmeria” (“Koktebel”)
Type: Vintage dessert red wine.
Alcohol - 16%, sugar - 190 g/l.
Grapes: Bastardo Magarachsky.
The absolute pride of the Koktebel plant. The aroma of the dark ruby drink has tones of wild berries, plums and chocolate shades. The taste will not leave you indifferent - it has a lot of vanilla, light spicy notes with jam tones and hints of dried fruit.
Price: 70-120 hryvnia.
5. “Madera Alminskaya” (“Magarach”)
Alcohol - 19.5%, sugar - 40 g/l.
Grapes: a mixture of white grape varieties with a predominance of the Rkatsiteli variety, grown in the Alma Valley.
Madeira is a drink born twice from the sun - oak barrels with strong wine mature for years in a special solarium, similar to a greenhouse. During this time, a quarter of the volume of wine evaporates (according to winemakers, this is exactly how much angels drink). Thanks to the caramel flavor mixed with roasted nuts, resulting in cognac-rum tones, Madeira is called “ladies’ cognac.” According to Denis Rudenko, Alminskaya is the best of the Crimean Madeira.
Price: 35-55 hryvnia.
Crimean wines are worthy of the attention of a sophisticated connoisseur of noble drinks. Wine companies on the peninsula produce dry and semi-dry, semi-sweet and sweet wines that have received worldwide recognition. Local producers offer a selection of fine liqueur and sparkling wines. The drinks always have a rich and rich taste, complex aroma and a delicious aftertaste. Products from Crimea are supplied to dozens of countries around the world, and the legendary Massandra plant is a supplier to the court of the Queen of England. The range of products is so wide that it is impossible to go without purchasing. The temptation to buy Crimean wines for your collection is strengthened by affordable prices for the bulk of the products.
Features of the region
The terroir of the Crimean peninsula is compared to Bordeaux, but wines began to be produced here long before the French. This is one of the most ancient wine regions on the planet. Wine was created by the Greeks in ancient Kherson, and Genoese colonists in Sudak and Feodosia. This region was chosen by the famous Prince Golitsyn when he was looking for a place for a sparkling wine factory. Today, dozens of enterprises operate in Crimea; brands such as Massandra, Novy Svet, Inkerman, and Koktebel have achieved worldwide recognition. Twice Crimean wines were recognized as the best in the world.
Crimean wines are produced from autochthonous and noble grape varieties. Ekim-kara, kephesia, cevat-kara, bastardo magarach are cultivated - these names read like spells from oriental fairy tales. Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Franc, Merlot, Riesling, Muscat, Chardonnay, and Syrah feel great in the climatic conditions of the peninsula. In the assortment of famous Crimean producers you can find single-varietal and blended drinks for any feast. Many varieties are aged in barrels for 2 to 4 years and become worthy of the best collections.
Crimean wines in WineStyle stores
WineStyle presents products from well-known and new wine companies of the peninsula. The price of Crimean wine starts from 166 rubles per bottle of 0.75 liters. Premium wines have an attractive price, which allows you to get acquainted with legendary brands that have received dozens of awards at the most prestigious professional competitions on the planet.
I really love dry red wine. I believe that dry wine is an “adult” drink. As a student, I preferred something stronger, or something sweeter, or something cheaper. Or all at once. For a long time I thought this way: if there was wine, then it was semi-sweet, and if I came across dry wine (say, at a feast), at best it seemed tasteless, at worst - boring sourness. In general, having absolutely no understanding of wine and being financially limited for some time, most often I chose some cheaper foreign crap at the wine counter. As a result, I didn’t like wine, because it gave me a severe headache the next morning... That was until my future husband and I went to Crimea, where we discovered magnificent Crimean wines. It was the dry ones that were best and easiest to drink after the heat of the day, and they tasted completely different from anything I had tried before.
The wines from the Crimean plant “Inkerman”, located in the town of the same name near Sevastopol, are most widely represented on Moscow shelves. In my opinion, these are the best wines in terms of price-quality ratio: a bottle of vintage Cabernet Kachinskoye wine costs about 400 rubles. This is a wine from the Kachin Valley, where old vineyards have been preserved that were not cut down during Gorbachev’s Prohibition.
In addition, there are aged “Merlot Kachinskoe” and “Merlot-Cabernet” costing about 300 rubles. Inkerman's vintage and aged dry wines are marked with a diagonal stripe in the upper left corner of the label. “Merlot Kachinskoe” seems to me the most delicious - the wine, although dry, seems slightly sweet due to its rich fruity taste and aroma. However, the ordinary “Bastardo”, which costs about 260 rubles, is also a very worthy wine with excellent taste. What I like most is that Inkerman wines practically do not contain tannins, which give the wine a sour, astringent taste.
For the most part, Inkerman wines are not counterfeited - their cost is too low. However, you can always verify their authenticity by turning the bottle over: it should always have a depressed bottom, on which there is a three-dimensional inscription INKERMAN. The bottles are sealed with corks made of cork oak; the cork bears the inscription “Inkerman” and the logo of the institute. And on the back of the label there should always be a bottling date printed in dots.
Inkerman wines are presented in all large super- and hypermarkets in Moscow, as well as in other stores, for example, in wine stores of the Otdohni chain, which, however, specialize in inexpensive imported wines from Spain, France, Chile, etc. ( By the way, we consider “Relax” to be a very good place in terms of price-quality ratio - approx. ed.)
As for another famous Crimean winery, Massandra, it is focused on the production of fortified sweet wines such as Madeira, port, sherry, etc. Of dry wines, Massandra produces only table wines, which are also very tasty, but unfortunately Quite rarely found in Moscow stores.
In addition, sometimes you also come across delicious dry wines from the Crimean Institute of Grapes and Wine “Magarach” and even less often – from the Feodosia brand “Oreanda” in very beautiful streamlined bottles. But, as practice shows, the wines of these producers on the Russian market are most often presented as semi-sweet. And I don’t drink semi-sweet anymore.
Maria Kuznetsova
Crimean wines are drinks with a very special smell and rich taste, prepared in accordance with certain traditions. They are famous all over the world. Millions of connoisseurs of quality wine know that truly excellent drinks are made in Crimea.
Manufacturing plants
First of all, I would like to say that there are several factories producing “Zolotaya Balka”, “Golden Amphora”, “Inkerman”, “New World”, “Massandra”, “Koktebel” and the Sevastopol Champagne Wine Factory. By the way, the penultimate one listed also produces excellent cognac. The most famous is “Massandra”; this plant has existed since 1894 and has been producing high-quality wines for more than 120 years. It is safe to say that the drinks produced by him are masterpieces of classical winemaking. The best Crimean wines are not just collected here - there is a huge number of real works of winemaking art. The plant has 225 (!) awards that its drinks have received at various tastings and international exhibitions. And, in the end, Massandra is the producer that has the largest collection of wines in the whole world. More than a million bottles of a wide variety of drinks are stored in its cellars. There is even a wine called “Sherry de la Frontera”, the harvest of which dates back to 1775! Each drink produced by this plant is unique and special in its own way.
White port: a variety of aromas and tastes
Crimean white wines deserve special attention. Take, for example, cabernet port. A completely unique vintage white wine, made from grapes. These berries grow near the small town of Alupka and the village of Simeiz. It is difficult to immediately understand the taste after tasting Cabernet port. The complex bouquet reveals itself in the aftertaste, and only then can you feel a light almond flavor, shaded by the aroma of subtropical fruits. Somewhat oily, but despite this, a soft taste that leaves a viscous and pleasant sensation. It is also worth noting “South Coast” white port, which is rightfully considered the best representative of its class of drinks. It is made from Aligote or Semillon grapes. Its color can be very light or dark amber - it all depends on the variety of berries. After tasting this drink, you can feel the unobtrusive taste of roasted nuts. In addition, there is also a huge number of port wines - “Golden Fortune of Arkhaderesse”, “Surozh”, “Crimean”, “Magarach” and many others.
Red table wines
They are especially popular. Take, for example, the Crimean red wine Cabernet, which is made from Sauvignon grapes grown near Sevastopol. This drink has a rich ruby hue and a pronounced tart taste. Alushta wine is also in demand. It is prepared from various varieties, such as “mourvèdre”, “morastel”, “saperavi” or the notorious “cabernet sauvignon”. By mixing all of these berries, you get a variety of interesting tastes. But, despite so many varieties, the drink does not have a strong aroma - everything is very harmonious and unobtrusive.
“Festive” drink produced in Crimea
Champagne is an indispensable attribute at almost any celebration. On the peninsula you can try absolutely any drink belonging to this class. Crimean sparkling wines are also diverse. Champagne with the interesting name “Prince Lev Golitsyn”, which is aged for at least three years, can rightfully be considered a real elite alcohol. It is made using classical technologies, that is, by secondary fermentation. The drink has a refreshing and harmonious taste and contains about 12.5% alcohol. “Sevastopol” champagne is also popular. Based on the name, you can understand where it is made. This is a noble drink of excellent quality, characterized by a not too cloying taste and a light grape aroma. New World champagne is also in demand. This wine drink has a rich aroma of fresh grapes and a completely unique taste. Its originality is due to the fact that no sugar or anything else is added to the drink. Absolutely pure taste.
Dessert drinks
Crimean dessert wines are distinguished by increased strength and richer taste. They are also called “muscats”. One of the most unique Crimean dessert wines is white “Livadia”. The drink has a delicate amber hue with an oily warm taste. This wine is very popular among true alcohol connoisseurs. Also worth noting is the wine with the long name “Red Stone White Muscat”. It can rightfully be considered the pride of domestic winemaking. It is this Muscat that has been awarded the highest global awards that can only be given to wine. Its light golden color with an amber tint cannot be confused with anything else, and its nutmeg taste with light citrus notes makes you fall in love with this drink from the first sip.
Author's wines of Crimean masters
Many winemakers make their own signature drinks. They should also be given attention. Take, for example, “Crimean Night” (Crimean wine, semi-sweet red). The chief master working at the Plodovoye plant (which produces this drink) and creating signature wines is Valery Andreevich Tsurkan. “Crimean Night” has a very original taste, because it is made from valuable grape varieties - Chardonnay, Pinot, Aligote and many others. Thanks to the efforts of its founders, this small distillery received three silver and four gold medals at international cognac and wine competitions.
“Manly” wine
This name was given to sherry among the common people. The drink as such was born in Spain. As a matter of fact, for the first time outside this country, sherry began to be made on the peninsula. This wine has certain differences from the others. One of the most pronounced is that this drink is kept in containers that are not completely filled, and under a thin layer of special wine yeast. It is this component that imbues sherry with such a special taste. Periodically, a small part of the contents is replaced with After this, it is added to the wort and then allowed to ferment for some more time in cold cellars. The sherry is infused for four years, at the end of which time the result is an aperitif with a pronounced taste and aroma. This is a strong wine (may contain about 20% alcohol), it warms, in moderate doses improves blood pressure and awakens the appetite. It is usually served with meat, vegetable, mushroom and fish dishes.
"Black Colonel"
Speaking about Crimean wines, I would like to pay special attention to this drink. It is produced exclusively in the Sunny Valley, since only there a unique grape variety is grown - “ekim kara” and “cevat kara”. This brand was approved not so long ago - only in 1995, but has already managed to win the recognition of connoisseurs of wine drinks and was awarded nine gold medals at various international competitions. “Black Colonel” has a unique bactericidal as well as bacteriostatic effect on various pathogenic microorganisms, improves the immune system and has a beneficial effect on digestion. This unique vintage wine is often used as an aperitif and served with fatty dishes such as shish kebab, fried meat, pilaf and barbecue. “Black Colonel” is exactly the kind of wine that you can use to show off your high tone.
Original drinks
Crimean wines themselves are unique and original in their own way, but there is such a classification, and certain drinks belong to it. For example, bastardo “Massandra”. The wine is made from Magarach grapes, due to which it acquires its original dark red color. Having tasted this rather sweet drink, you can feel the taste of dark chocolate, shaded with prunes. is 16%, it is often even compared to liqueur. The original drinks also include aleatico called “Ayu-Dag”. It has a very delicate, subtle taste and the same color - light pink, with a pomegranate tint. You can also pay attention to the dessert kokur “Surozh”. It has a pronounced golden hue and an original varietal bouquet in which you can feel the taste of honey and quince. And finally, “Golitsyn’s Seventh Heaven” is a wine that fully lives up to its name. It has been prepared in Massandra for more than 135 years. This drink combines the flavors of peach, honey and quince and has a dark amber color.
If you are going to Crimea or want to find real Crimean wine on the shelves of Russian stores, read these detailed and clear tips from a wine expert. For me, this material revealed a lot of unknowns, although I live in Crimea.
Guide to Crimean wines: what to buy, how to choose, where to taste
The wines of the Crimean peninsula are not only a local specialty, but also a legend inextricably linked with the history of the region. Understanding the choice of wines can be difficult even for a resident of the peninsula. Moreover, tourists face a difficult choice.
Wine expert, director of the scientific and methodological center "Wine Laboratory" of the Sevastopol branch of Moscow State University Dmitry Kovalev spoke about what you can drink and what is not recommended, where and how to choose the main Crimean souvenir.
Wine globe of Crimea
In a store or restaurant, it is sometimes enough for tourists to see that the drink was produced in Crimea - and they are already in a hurry to make a choice. But this is not yet a sufficient reason to purchase. It is necessary, as in a good foreign movie, to clarify what grapes it is made from and where exactly it was grown.
Understanding the intricacies of Crimean winemaking is not at all difficult. In fact, each wine-growing region of Crimea has its own wine specialization. If you like dessert and fortified wines, then you should pay attention to products from the South Coast. The legendary Crimean muscats are grown here, from which wines with a specific taste and delicate aroma are produced. “There are a lot of Muscat grape varieties grown in Italy, Southern France, Spain, Portugal. But Crimean Muscat is a special “trick”. This grape has the aroma of a tea rose, its aroma is sometimes brighter than the Italian one. The hot climate and shale soils of the South Coast are very similar on the soils of Porto, the Douro River valley in Portugal - the birthplace of port wine. Therefore, fortified and sweet wines, including Madeira, sherry, port wines, are one of the symbols of Greater Yalta,” Kovalev noted.
In turn, the East of Crimea is known for its dry and sparkling wines. In particular, producers in the eastern region (Sudak, Koktebel, Solnechnaya Dolina) have worked for many years to produce good dry wines from autochthonous grape varieties such as Kokur, Kefesia and others. “In Crimean dry wine, these varieties are often used in blends or separately. This is stated on the label. Such wine will be a very good souvenir. A tourist who visits here will bring not just Crimean wine, but wine from a local grape variety,” Kovalev is convinced.
Wines from the New World are widely known. But sparkling grapes don’t grow there - it’s too hot. Therefore, since the time of Lev Golitsyn, it has been brought from the “Crimean Champagne” - the outskirts of Sevastopol. The main thing that the region has in common with Champagne is the white calcareous soils. Only in our area it is much hotter: Reims lies at the latitude of Belgorod and Kyiv, and Crimea is Provence, the latitude of Marseille. Hence the wines are much richer.
The western wine region of Crimea, primarily Sevastopol, is famous for its sparkling wines. They are produced by the tank method, when secondary fermentation of wine occurs in special closed containers. This is a cheaper way to produce sparkling wine, allowing you to achieve a good level of quality at an affordable price. “The sparkling wines produced in Sevastopol are bright and aromatic. Muscat is often used in their production, which adds special notes of taste: aromas of peach, fig, acacia,” the wine expert emphasizes.
But Western Crimea and Sevastopol are famous not only for “wine with bubbles”. The village of Rodnoye, Balaklava district, is the “Crimean Burgundy”; pinot noir, chardonnay and other varieties, for example, from Piedmont, are interesting here. “But our Bordeaux is the Northern side of Sevastopol, the Belbek valley with gravel soils, dry winds. It is even more like the coast of Tuscany, Maremma. Koktebel is similar to Spain, Andalusia. So far, dry and fortified wines, and some sparkling wines are made here. Experiments with Spanish varieties can bear fruit, especially since Portuguese ones grow here - from Madeira. In the meantime, the Spaniard Tempranillo has registered in the West, in Vilino and Peschany. West Crimean and Sevastopol dry wines have high acidity. This is the general balance that the French call it. “elegance”. There is no such thing in the wines of Kuban. This Crimean wine can surprise foreign guests, since they will feel the closeness of these wines with the same wines of Bordeaux,” explains Kovalev.
As for wines produced in the northern, steppe regions of the peninsula, the expert calls for caution. Viticulture in the steppe regions is an entirely Soviet project. It became possible only with the construction of the Crimean Canal with Dnieper water and the breeding of winter-hardy hybrid varieties. Today there are very few vineyards there. The majority are still located in the 20-kilometer coastal strip, where the vines do not need to be covered for the winter. And in those years, most of the steppe vineyards were cultivated for cognac production. So, no wines from Dzhankoy - and even with Simferopol wines you have to keep your ears open!" - says Dmitry Kovalev.
To quickly navigate the variety of varieties, you need to understand the simple wine geography of Crimea: cabernet sauvignon “lives” in the Bakhchisaray region and on the northern side of Sevastopol, although there is a little in Koktebel and Sudak, sauvignon blanc - in Sevastopol and Sudak, chardonnay - in the Bakhchisaray region, Sevastopol and Balaklava, in Koktebel, the Magarach bastard - on the South Coast, in the Bakhchisarai region. Rkatsiteli, saperavi - these are mainly varieties from Sevastopol and the Bakhchisarai region. Saperavi is found in plantings on the South Coast for fortified wines. Pinot noir - Sevastopol, Balaklava region and North side, as well as Bakhchisaray region, Koktebel. Kokur, Kefession, Sary Pandas and other autochthons are mainly in the vicinity of Sudak.
The most Crimean
Now let’s figure out how to recognize truly Crimean wines, that is, those produced from local grapes, without the use of imported wine materials. Most Crimean wines are autochthonous. In recent years, the term “autochthon” has become very fashionable, but what it means on the label is not clear to everyone. The meaning of the word is close to “aboriginal”. That is, we are talking about grape varieties that were bred and grow in a specific territory, which means that they are especially successful in absorbing all the best that this particular land can give. The most common autochthons of Crimea are, first of all, Kokur and Kefession. They go back at least to Byzantine and Genoese times, and their very names are Greek.
The name of the Shabash variety is very interesting - it is Crimean Tatar, and this variety was used to finish the harvest. Traditionally, he went to Madeira Koktebel. “There are many autochthonous varieties in the collection of the Magarach Research Institute, but no more than five are in production today. There are enthusiasts of their revival. In the aroma and taste of the Crimean autochthonous varieties, do not look for the usual European tones - all these fresh fruits and berries. Compare them with the varieties of Georgia, Hungary, Don, Armenia. This is the aromatics of dry herbs, dried fruits for white ones, and for red ones - dogwood, mulberry and similar southern berries. By the way, in the Crimea there is also one “semi-autochthonous” variety. In the USSR, the Portuguese bastardo was crossed, also known as French. trousso, with saperavi. The result is a ripe and juicy Magarach bastardo - one of the symbols of Crimea, perhaps, in order to give it weight and proximity to the great Bordeaux, the Crimeans mistakenly call it bastardO, with an emphasis on the last syllable,” says the expert.
As for the wines that are widely sold in the mass market, it is difficult for a non-professional to determine whether the winemaker uses imported raw materials, or honestly produces the drink from exclusively Crimean grapes. And a high price does not always guarantee “purity”. At the same time, word of mouth is multiplying stories about how, in pursuit of profit, producers add “powder” to wine, as well as cheap wine materials from other countries.
“We are looking forward to the completion of the reform, according to which all producers working with Crimean grapes will receive licenses and special excise stamps for wines of protected geographical indication - PGI. In the meantime, the consumer is forced to trust the manufacturer. Yes, yes, this is something like a “merchant words" in pre-revolutionary Russia. And the current state of affairs teaches us to know the basics of arithmetic. So, knowing exactly the number of hectares of the producer and the number of grape bushes per hectare, you can easily calculate how many bottles he actually produced. Indeed, even for super-productive vineyards of countries In the New World, three bottles from a bush is a sensational yield,” Dmitry Kovalev shares his secrets.
At the same time, there are wines that, for economic reasons, can be produced without violating technology or using imported materials. For example, you can trust pinot noir from the Balaklava region - the growing area of this particular variety is expanding there, which means there is no point in adding additives. This same wine is highly valued by sommeliers for its southern berry aroma - fattier than in Burgundy and Germany. “Another Crimean stronghold is Riesling. Lev Golitsyn also praised the very density and bright aromatics of the Black Sea Riesling. By the way, there is a theory according to which this variety reveals its signature notes precisely on the sunny, dry slopes of Alsace or the Rhine Valley. In cool Germany, such places a little, with us - in abundance. You will find high-quality Riesling, first of all, in the west of Crimea in the Bakhchisarai region and in Sevastopol. This variety also shows itself well in premium sparkling wines produced from Sevastopol grapes near Sudak - this is Riesling. a certain “trick” of Russian sparkling wines, which Lev Golitsyn borrowed from Alsace. And last year, 100% sparkling Riesling using the classic champagne method was recognized by many as the best sparkling wine in Russia,” the expert shares.
Another hit of Crimea is Sauvignon Blanc. In our area it turns out heavier and more alcoholic than in the Loire Valley or New Zealand, but in recent years in Sudak, in the Bakhchisarai region and in Sevastopol they began to make very pure sauvignons. Sevastopol also preserves ancient vineyards of Saperavi and Rkatsiteli varieties - these are Soviet wine classics that can also be trusted. Wine connoisseurs with history can also be advised to bring a couple of bottles of sherry and Cahors from Crimea. “Peter the Great once brought wine for the needs of the church. After 150 years, they began to make it here too. Russian winemakers have preserved the style of 16-degree Cahors, which in its homeland, in the French city of Cahors, is called Rogomme. There it is almost never found anymore. That’s why For Western experts, Cahors is a fortified national Russian wine. The same applies to the “old regime” sherry made from the Pedro Chimeres variety, and the presence of Tokay and Don Cossack varieties on the Southern Coast of Crimea. The time is not far off when people will travel to Crimea as a reserve of world winemaking. “Many styles and varieties of 19th-century Europe have been preserved here,” says Kovalev.
In recent years, familiar European varieties have also become completely Crimean. For example, you can safely trust Traminer or Gewurztraminer. Several farms have successfully “settled” the ancient Austrian variety on the peninsula and produce aromatic, bright wine from local raw materials. “Mediterranean Provence is just ideally similar to Crimea. Climate, nature, attitude, if you want. And there wine is made from varieties such as Syrah, Mourvèdre, Grenache, which are almost unknown in our dry wines. Although Mourvèdre was widely used during Golitsyn’s time. And Today we are seeing how Syrah and Malbec from the Bakhchisarai region are actively hitting the shelves, and rosé from the Syrah variety has also appeared - and this is a purely Provençal style, where most of the wines are rosé. Crimeans are also experimenting with varieties such as Petit Verdot - in Bordeaux! it is in the last roles, we have pure varieties from the villages of Dolinnoye and Sudak, and in the Saki region you will find, for example, a rare hybrid of arinenoa, Italian barbera,” says the expert.
Attention - on the label
How to choose the “right” Crimean wine? First of all, experts do not advise buying so-called “house wine” of questionable production and bottling on local markets. Buying wine in supermarkets is also not the best option. Here, in the vast majority of cases, storage conditions are violated. The wine must be in a horizontal position at a temperature of plus 12-14 degrees, humidity about 85%. Such conditions are provided mainly only in specialized stores. A proven sign of quality wine, according to Dmitry Kovalev, is the inscription on the labels “wine with a protected geographical indication - PGI.” Not all winemakers have received licenses for such wines yet, but we should expect their mass release starting from the 2017 harvest. “Such an inscription confirms that the wine is made from Crimean grapes, with a full production cycle. The producer is monitored by the state in the person of Rosalkogolregulirovanie and other services, as well as the association of winegrowers and winemakers itself. If the state catches a producer in the association of falsification, sanctions will be against everyone “This principle of mutual responsibility applies not only here, but also in Europe,” the expert notes.
Experts also highlight a number of other factors that you should pay attention to when choosing. Thus, experts advise carefully studying the label, which should indicate the year of grape harvest, the name and proportions of the varieties from which the wine is produced, as well as in large print the full name and address of the manufacturing plant. If there is no clear information on any of the above items on the label, with a high degree of probability it can be argued that this is a counterfeit product. Information about the manufacturer and the name of the wine indicated on the excise stamp must correspond. You should also make sure that the cork sits in the neck of the bottle at the level of its walls. A bulging or sagging cork indicates that there is something wrong with the wine.
“And beware of flashy labels, especially those that repeatedly include the word “Crimea” and the names of popular local resorts. Alas, these wines are often made for careless tourists. Every year new lines appear, where, at best, there will be at least Chilean or Spanish wine material. It’s like in Chianti, where there is an unspoken rule that wine in braided fiasca bottles is a cheap drink for tourists. It’s like vodka in matryoshka bottles, like “Armenian cognac” in dagger bottles,” assures Kovalev. And, of course, an important factor is the cost of the product. According to experts, the price of good Crimean wine starts on average from 500-600 rubles per bottle in mainland Russia, and from 250 rubles in Crimea.
