This week, the Ukrvinprom team organized an online meeting for Barn Eales, a representative of the international wine magazine Decanter, and winemakers of Ukraine. The goal was to discuss and publicize an important topic — the impact of the war on Ukrainian wine companies. The world is already talking a lot about destroyed cities and towns, destroyed civil infrastructure and industrial complexes. But there is little about the consequences of hostilities and rocket attacks on vineyards and production areas of the wine industry of Ukraine. We have to talk about it. We must inform the world community about the importance and value of Ukrainian wine.

Our producers suffered great losses. Part of the vineyards and wineries were occupied by the russians, and part of them were destroyed by constant rocket fire. Some producers were forced to stop their activities due to lack of market and economic difficulties. Many Ukrainian winemakers and owners of winemaking enterprises lost their colleagues and relatives, that became a real tragedy for the entire industry.

This twо-hour conversation definitely became an important step in the preservation and development of the Ukrainian wine industry.

Participants of “Ukrvinprom” who shared their stories during the meeting:

1. Georgy Iukuridze is a co-founder of PTK Shabo LLC.
2. Valery Zavorotny – owner of VKZ Olvia LLC, Tairovo Winery LLC
3. Oleksandr Mironenko is the owner of “Vina Zaporizhzhya” LLC TM Graevo.
4. Andrii Strelets — general manager of Knyaz Trubetskoho PRJSC.
5. Yevgenia Kulinich — Sterkh LLC, TM Falko.

“This online meeting was an important step for us in the preservation and development of the Ukrainian wine industry, which has suffered great losses. I communicate with winemakers and owners of winemaking companies every day, and I know for a fact that they need the support. Now — like never before. Dozens of destroyed production premises, hundreds of mutilated vineyards, thousands of stolen or destroyed bottles of wine. These are colossal figures for the Ukrainian wine industry. I am glad that representatives of foreign mass media are interested in this problem. They continue to support Ukraine. After hearing the stories, I want to work with even greater effort. Do your own thing every day. This definitely brings our victory closer,” — Volodymyr Kucherenko, general director of Ukrvinprom.

Consequences of the war for the wine industry of Ukraine

“Olivia Winery” and “Tairovo Winery” are located on the banks of the Dnipro-Buzka estuary. With the beginning of the war, our territories were very close to the front line. Constant hostilities and shelling by large-caliber artillery and volley fire systems have caused great damage to our vineyards. Since the beginning of March, we had 50-100 hits almost every day. Then we simply forbade the workers to go out into the vineyards. During the 4 months of occupation, the entire territory was bombarded with sub-cluster shells, some of which remained unexploded. When the russians were pushed further from the region, and the rocket attacks were reduced to a few per week, only then were we able to assess the extent of the destruction. Approximately 585 hectares of vineyards were completely affected by cassettes, and sappers could only get there in winter. We will lose a huge amount of time that was needed to cooperate with the grapes. Not sure if they will still be suitable for growing and making wine. We currently have only 500 vineyards that we can use for production. Among our employees, more than 100 people are fighting at the front, some of them went abroad and there is a high probability that they will not return. Of course, our production volumes fell to a record. But we continue to work. We believe in victory and do not lose optimism.

I want russia to compensate every winemaker whose production suffered losses. Material and especially human. With frozen assets, reparations, whatever. They have to pay a heavy price for it. And we should talk about it wherever we can. The world community is already talking a lot about destroyed cities, infrastructure, etc. But very little is known about the scale of losses in the wine industry. This needs to be changed,” — Valery Zavorotny, owner of VKZ Olvia LLC, Tairovo Winery LLC.

“Our Falko Winery is located in the Mykolaiv region, on the road to Kherson. From the beginning of the war, she was almost on the front line, but we still worked. We were mined five times, we demined five times. There was destruction in the vineyards, and the winery itself suffered a little. At the very beginning of the russian invasion, our employees helped the Ukrainian military dig dugouts and trenches, and we hosted women and children in our premises. The owner of “Falko winery” donated 5 million hryvnias to the military. Now we continue to make and sell wine. We make dry red, white and pink. The latter are made from red grape varieties by cold maceration. We continue to transfer part of the funds from the profit to the needs of the Ukrainian army. We are not showing off. We simply state the facts and continue to do our thing. Now is definitely not the time to give up. We will definitely restore everything,” – Yevgenia Kulinich, Sterkh LLC, TM Falko

“Graevo is a small company. We collected the first grapes in 2014. Until 2020, we sold wine only in Zaporizhzhia. The first moment when we believed in our strength was in 2021. Then we took part in the Wine & Spirit wine competition for the first time. We won awards and realized that not only us like our wine. Then we finally understood: we need to move forward more actively! In the same year, they met the director of Ukravinprom — Volodymyr Kucherenko — and were motivated to participate in the competition in Canada. Both wines that went received gold, the only one in Ukraine. On February 23, 2022, we planned to send our wine to the Decanter competition. But on that day, all flights were cancelled, and the next day, the lives of Ukrainians changed.

We bought grapes in the Kherson region, which was occupied by the russians from the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We also planted our own vineyards near the Zaporizhzhia NPP. This region is still occupied. This year, they planned to collect their first grapes and try wine from them. But on February 24, plans changed. From the first days of the great war, we received women and children in our underground facilities. Then there was no understanding of what would happen tomorrow and how to act. But a few weeks later, we recovered. We got together and continued to make wine. Only now I feel how much Ukrainians have grown in demand for their own. They want to taste new things, they want to buy Ukrainian. Demand among Western consumers has also grown. I really want to strengthen this interest. Scale up production, enter new sales markets, and continue to participate in international competitions. The Ukrainian wine industry now more than ever needs global support,” Oleksandr Mironenko, owner of TM Graevo Wines of Zaporizhzhia LLC.

“The historic chateau of Prince Trubetsky was immediately occupied by the russians from the first days of the war. It is located in the Kherson region on the bank of the Dnieper, on the other side of the city of Kakhovka. Until February 24, we still had warehouses near Kyiv, which are now destroyed. 32 thousand bottles — a direct hit to the warehouse. The region of the winery has already been deoccupied, but we still cannot get to the vineyards and production due to daily shelling. We know that there were many hits. We know that Ukraine’s largest collection of wines collected since 1958 has been looted.

The vineyards are mined. Last week there was a direct hit on our passageway, which was completely destroyed. We are currently not producing anything. Part of the team left Ukraine in the first months of the war. Of course, they could not cultivate grapes. Therefore, his condition now is an unknown story. In the 2000s, our winemakers planted 200 hectares of world grape varieties, reconstructed the chateau, and equipped cellars for wine storage using classic French technology. The region is now empty.

But we do not give up. We are working on a strategy to restore our winery. First of all, the historic chateau and vineyards. Ukrainians and European consumers will definitely drink the long-awaited and favorite bottle of “Knyaz Trubetsky” wine. We are not broken. Even when they lost everything,” Andriy Strelets, general manager of Knyaz Trubetskoho PJSC.

“SHABO is one of the oldest terroirs in Europe. Grapes were grown on these lands even by the ancient Greeks. The beginning of cultured winemaking in this region is associated with Swiss immigrants who founded a winemaking settlement here in 1822. We were supposed to celebrate a big date in 2022, but… we will still celebrate 😉 It must be said that Shabo felt the russian influence during the Soviet era. During the period of Gorbachev’s “anti-alcohol campaign”, although it was possible to preserve the grape plantations, the years of perestroika still led to their decline. But in 2003, my family built a new era here with a single idea — to create the first Great Wine of Ukraine. Today, SHABO is a unique terroir with 1,200 hectares of European and original grape varieties. More than 500 awards in prestigious competitions, two gold medals at the London Decanter for the first time thanks to Chardonnay Shabo Grande Reserve 2015 and Cabernet Shabo Grande Reserve 2017, which received 95 points out of 100. Today, our wine represents Ukraine in Bordeaux and exports to more than 20 countries around the world.

Since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have been actively supporting the local community of the region, TRO, ZSU, VPO. We help with food and basic necessities. We buy body armor, vehicles and other equipment. When Mykolaiv needed drinking water, together with fellow winemakers, we organized the delivery of tanks from our own artesian well. Despite active volunteering, we continue to make a quality product that every Ukrainian can be proud of. We are optimists. Victory is only a matter of time. We just have to keep doing our own thing,” — Giorgiy Iukuridze — co-founder of PTK Shabo LLC

As you can see, many Ukrainian wineries suffered losses. Destruction, the consequences of which, unfortunately, are irreversible. But Ukrainians are already famous for their indomitability! Despite everything, winemakers believe in victory and a better future! And our team and I support them at every step.

Ukrainian wine is definitely not the last place in the world ranking. It is recognized. And now it needs a lot of support. Make your own. Learn more about yourself to better understand yourself.