Wine has long been made in Ukraine. Now its winemakers are preserving tradition in the face of war
By Charlotte Reck, CNN
(CNN) — When Sergiy Klimov speaks about wine, his excitement is infectious, even to those with a less than sophisticated palate.
Since 2014, Klimov has championed Ukrainian-made wine in numerous ways.
He runs a chain of wine bars in the capital city, Kyiv, stocking only Ukrainian-produced wine. He is an ambassador for Ukrainian wine, promoting it overseas. And now he has his own vineyard in the village of Zarichanka in western Ukraine, where he experiments with grape cultivation and the winemaking process.
Through sharing Ukrainian-made wine, Klimov feels he is preserving and building on a tradition connected to his ancestral land for thousands of years.
“It became my mission,” he said. “I want to bring revolution to the industry.”
Alongside its neighbors Moldova and Romania, and the wider region’s Georgia and Azerbaijan, Ukraine has been fertile winemaking ground for millennia. Archaeological digs have unearthed ancient Greek winemaking vessels, while fossilized remains of grape species found during other excavations date back to the 11th to 9th centuries BC.
Perhaps most famously, Crimea was home to vineyards which sat at the foot of the southern peninsula’s mountains. After Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 many of the vineyards were lost and, in some cases, were mined and destroyed by Russian forces, said Anna Eugenia Yanchenko, a Ukrainian cultural scientist, sommelier, and wine researcher specializing in the history of her country’s wine.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, its forces have destroyed more wineries, including Château Kurin in the south and ARTWINERY in the eastern city of Donetsk, Yanchenko said. Others, like the southern vineyard Prince Trubetskoy Winery and the Kyiv region’s Wineidea, experienced periods of occupation.
The country’s winemaking capacity was significantly reduced as a result – but Klimov and others are determined to keep the industry not just alive but thriving.
Their efforts are motivated in part by a desire to strengthen Ukrainian national identity in the face of Russia’s efforts to deny their country’s sovereignty.
Now based in Warsaw, Poland, Yanchenko says little is known about who originally planted grapes millennia ago in what is now Ukraine, but that what matters is that it happened and that production continues.
“Since winemaking appeared, the process of cultivating grapes and wine consumption has never ended here,” she said.
Another champion for the industry is Tania Olevska, who left Ukraine for London in July 2022, five months after Russia’s full-scale invasion. Having worked in the wine industry for some years in her native Ukraine, she decided to establish Ukrainian Wines Company UK, focused on importing Ukrainian wines to Britain. She attends wine fairs and exhibitions that winemakers who remain in Ukraine now struggle to get to.
“Initially, the wines were rejected,” Olevska said of trying to rally interest. But after one Ukrainian winemaker sent two cases to be sampled at events, that all changed. “In 2023, we had an opportunity to showcase our wines at the London Wine Fair. Several winemakers came and there was a huge interest from the trade side. They liked the wines,” she said.
Wine enthusiast Klimov is not surprised by that. “Our territory is super-unique,” he said, explaining how the diversity of Ukraine’s landscape lends itself to complex and interesting flavors, “We have black soils, limestone, volcanic soil and more than 400 grape varieties,” he added.
Victoria Daskal, a wine writer and educator based in London, said she believes the rise in Ukrainian wine imports to the UK is in part due to awareness of the war, but also because of the diversity of the British wine market. “Many wine consumers are generally surprised to even learn that Ukraine is a wine-producing country, but they are interested in exploring new regions,” she said.
Nonetheless, Ukrainian winemakers have some way to go to raise the profile of their vintages both globally and at home.
Both Klimov and Yanchenko explained how the Soviet era limited the wine industry, when they said quantity was prioritized over quality.
Before that, the Russian Empire’s ineffective tackling of grape phylloxera – an aphid-like pest which feeds on grapevine roots – caused great loss in Ukraine, as elsewhere in 19th-century Europe. The wine industry had also long been affected by uncertainty, as portions of the country came under the rule of invading nations including Lithuania, Poland and Russia between the 14th and 18th centuries before it fell entirely to Russian rule.
In the 20th century, the Soviets brought everything into government ownership. Wine was still produced, but privately owned wineries were destroyed and replaced with mass manufacturing with no concern for quality. Ukraine’s winemaking reputation was quickly ruined, Yanchenko said.
Now in the grips of another war, Ukraine is committed to defending its identity as a sovereign nation – an identity Russia is seeking to erase in the regions it has occupied, rights groups say.
That erasure is also reminiscent of the Soviet era, when the regime in Moscow controlled the historical narrative. “My parents didn’t learn much about the history of our land in school,” Yanchenko said. “We know so little about who we are. But through discoveries like the true history of winemaking we are slowly piecing together the bigger picture of ‘Who are Ukrainians?’”
Which might be why when Klimov saw an opportunity to get his neighbors involved in winemaking, he seized it.
“Kyiv is the capital of vertical vineyards,” he said, describing how grapevines, many of them planted in the early 20th century, still grow through the city’s buildings in certain areas.
In late 2023, he called upon his neighbors to join him in collecting and contributing grapes grown on Kyiv’s streets and soon they’d gathered 200 kilograms (about 440 pounds) of the fruit.
The result was 100 bottles of natural wine with low intervention, bottled and sold with a label designed by Ukrainian artist Waone. “It’s like a piece of art that never existed before,” Klimov said.
All proceeds from the sales are donated to funds supporting Ukraine’s armed forces, he said.
“It’s important to show that Ukraine is a wine country. It has old roots, with wine on our streets,” Klimov said, adding that he hopes to make this communal effort a tradition.
Yanchenko hopes the work she, and Klimov, now do to advocate for Ukrainian wines at home and overseas will re-shape the country’s image.
“It serves as a bridge, connecting us to other nations by offering a taste of our history, traditions, and the uniqueness of our land,” she said.
“It’s a way to reconnect with our roots and proudly share what makes Ukraine truly special.”
Despite some people’s doubts, Klimov says some Ukrainians are now starting to choose Ukraine-made products over international imports.
Having attended wine fairs in Dusseldorf, London and other European cities, Klimov also says he has seen a shift in the tastes of non-Ukrainians, with more becoming interested in learning about Ukraine’s wine regions.
According to Olevska, “People should try Ukrainian wines, not just because of the war, not just because of this grief, but just because it’s a good wine of a great quality, and it’s worth being on the table.”
Klimov feels that investing his time and expertise in this industry will support his nation’s wider war effort.
“When you support Ukraine’s economy, you support Ukraine’s culture, and this is a very small step that everyone in this world can do for Ukraine.”
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