The wine industry of Ukraine is well-established with long traditions. Several brands of wine from Ukraine are exported to bordering countries, the European Union, and North America. Amid the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Ukrainian winemakers continued to work and produce wine.[1]
The regions of wine industry in Ukraine corresponds to its viticulture regions situated predominantly in close vicinity to Black Sea coast in Southern Ukraine as well as around Tisza valley of Zakarpattia Oblast.
A wine culture existed in today's Ukraine already in the 4th century BC at the south coast of the Crimea. Presses and amphoras were found from this period. Wine cultivation in the northern part of the country (around Kyiv and Chernihiv) however only started in the 11th century by monks.Under Empress Catherine the Great (1729–1796) in 1783 the Crimea became a part of the Russian Empire. Count Mikhail Vorontsov planted the first wine gardens in 1820 and established a large winery near Yalta. The viticulture research institute Magarach was founded then in 1828. In 1822, with the approval of Tsar Alexander I, Swiss winegrowers from the canton Vaud established a colony at Shabo (French: Chabag). They later founded daughter colonies on the Dnieper and in Crimea. Wine from Chabag was displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and received a medal of recognition.[2]
The founder of the famous sparkling wines is prince Lev Golitsyn, who for the first time manufactured Russian "Champagner" after the Crimean War (1854 to 1856) on his property Novyi Svet near Yalta. Later, under the last Tsar Nicholas II (1868–1918) the predecessor of Massandra, today's state winery, was founded. During Soviet times Ukraine with 2500km² was the largest supplier of the wines in the USSR. It came to a disaster in 1986: about 800km² of the vineyards were destroyed, when Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev started a campaign against the over-consumption of alcohol in USSR. Since 2000 the production as well as the export of the wines has increased rapidly.
After the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine lost not only 17 thousand hectares of vineyards, but also wineries that provided 60% of wines.
The main varietals are Aligoté, Muscat, Isabella, Traminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Pinot gris, Rkatsiteli. The Golubok grape variety was first cultivated in Ukraine.[3]
Production of sparkling wine like Sovetskoye Shampanskoye ('Soviet Champagne') is increasing. Most of the sparkling wine is produced around large cities like Kyiv, Bakhmut, Lviv, Odesa and Kharkiv. Most of the production is based on Pinot blanc, Aligoté, Riesling and Feteasca.