DOUGLAS MASON: Between the Molotov cocktails, Ukraine’s wine makers on a journey toward quality

A good local wine industry is something most countries want — a lifestyle product that says culture and sophistication, making the country, and its wine regions, a destination.

Ukrainian wines may sound like a hard sell — particularly in the middle of a war — but there are rewards to be found in what is a robust and growing wine sector that has been raising its game.

Wine has been made in Ukraine for a very long time, but it is in the last 20 years that more serious wines have emerged. This includes volume winemakers with decent production, and old state companies that were privatised after the transition to a market economy.

More interesting is a new generation of winemakers, both medium sized and boutique producers, that are working to build up a more diverse industry.

According to local wine merchant Slava Mariyanovskiy of Happy Wine in Odesa, there are — without naming names — “about 10” good quality winemakers that can easily compare to international standards, out of at least 89 main producers in the whole country.

They are experimenting and producing better wines and are the basis for growth and creativity. The drawbacks, he says, are “consistency from year to year”, typical of a sector that needs depth. Greater reliability and diversity will emerge, but “we have some way to go”. Ukraine is in the early stages of building its wine brand.

The main winemaking areas are on the Black Sea, centred on Odesa, stretching from the ancient Besarabia region on the lower Danube River in the south-west up to the Dnieper River in the east. Others are in the pre-Carpathian area of the south-west and a new region that is emerging around Kyiv.

Terroir along the Black Sea — loam, clay and limestone soils and warm summer temperatures — is still a subject of experimentation. Being on the same latitude as Bordeaux and having some soil similarities was thought to be promising. Others believe the similarities end right there. Temperatures, humidity and wind are far more extreme. Finding and developing the qualities of local terroir is going to be a painstaking process that will take years.

At least one unique local selling point is Ukraine’s varietals. Odessa Black — also called Alibernet — is a rich and robust red with good spice and dark fruit. Developed in Ukraine in 1950 as a cross between Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon, it is regarded as having the strongest development potential among local wines.

White varietals include Sukholimansky, an aromatic wine that is easy and accessible, and Telti Kuruk — it means “Fox Tail” — which has aromas of white flowers and good acidity. Georgia’s excellent Saperavi grape, which does well in the Black Sea area, is widely used. Otherwise, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Zweigelt, Chardonnay, Riesling and Muscat-Ottonel predominate.

Winemaker profiles are diverse. Alongside established companies are new medium sized entrants, craft and family winemakers with a passion for the trade. Celebrity owners are notable, as in SA. That includes tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky of Stakhovsky Wines, who is now a soldier in the armed forces, as with many Ukrainian celebrities who are defending their country.

Similar to Silicon Valley players who have branched into winemaking in California is Beykush Winery, owned by Ukrainian IT entrepreneur Eugene Shneyderis. Baykush is producing some of Ukraine’s best and most innovative wines — including, South Africans will be interested to know, the pleasures and pains of working with Pinotage.

One of the most unusual and innovative of the new boutique biodynamic producers is Don Alejandro Winery, owned by architect Alexander Shapovalov — the wine is good and the wine labels are world class.

Working to promote the sector and raise standards are various quality promotion initiatives and professional associations. These are the tools and institutions that any country’s wine industry needs to use to develop. Progress is in the right direction.

Quality wine making, says Anatoliy Malinovskyi, an international wine consultant based in Odesa who advises on the private cellars of ultra high net worth clients, is happening and is promising, but the country is in the early period of a decades long journey toward truly good and competitive wines.

Great wine making countries, he notes, have centuries of depth and experience that Ukraine is trying to collapse into a short period. Attempting to apply clever methods to shorten that is producing results, but the process is uneven. At a time when other Eastern European winemakers are getting a lot of international notice — Georgia and Moldova are now standouts — Ukraine is near bottom of the class.

What wine drinkers can do now is participate in a growth story, enjoying decent wines at good prices and seeking out good new wines, some of which already are pearls. This cheap and cheerful approach has rewards across the board. As with anywhere, buy the wine, not the price. Ukrainian wines that are being exported and turning up on store shelves, wine lists and in international competitions deserve a fair hearing.

A more immediate priority for winemakers is to get through the war. The 2022 season has not been “a good year”. An entire wine region in Kherson district is under Russian occupation, including famous producer Prince Trubetskoy Winery, based at a fine historical château, whose cellars have been looted.

One winery, Kurin, has been destroyed, although its owner continues, bravely, to tend the vineyards personally. Wineries close to the front lines near Mykolaiv have been shelled.  Elsewhere, winemakers have been focused on survival — some joking they were too busy bottling Molotov cocktails to bottle wine during the opening months of the war. This is only half joking — many were actually making Molotov cocktails as well as raising funds and donating supplies to the military to support the war effort.

Qualified staff have been lost, leaving to join the military or having fled abroad. Winemakers are now working to salvage the season, the autumn weather pointing to what may still be a decent harvest.

After surviving a war with Russia, Ukrainian winemakers and wine drinkers will be happy to go back to the challenges of making good wine.

• Mason is on extended assignment in Ukraine.