What is Russian Wine Country?

This Russian Wine Country website focuses the area of Russia that has been the primary focus of Western winemakers since the end of the USSR due to the potential of its terroirs. It is the area that stretches alonmg the Black Sea coast from just south of Gelendzhik to the Taman Peninsula along the south coast of the Azov Sea. The first modern winery of the region, Chateau Le Grand Vostock, was developed in 2003 by French wine professionals and builders with all French equipment. Since then, about 20 modern wineries have opened. Most have been “green-field” but a few Soviet era wineries have successfully transformed to modern operations. In addition, there are 15 or so “garagistes” that are producing respectable wines, and certainly many of them will transform into larger operations in the coming years.
Russian wineries grow many white and red wines French varietal grapes such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Aligote, Muscat and Sauvignon Blanc, and indigenous Georgian and Russian varieties such as Rkatsiteli, Krasnostop, and Saperavi.
This website only features wineries that produce wines from Russian grapes, either from their own vineyards or purchased from neighboring vineyards. Even with this restriction, we are aware that some of the wineries listed also produce wines from imported “wine material” or concentrate. To the degree possible, we try to limit our information to authentic Russian wines produced from grapes grown in Russia.

About the Author

When Charles Borden first visited Russian Wine Country in September 1992 just after the demise of the USSR, he became the first Western investor to take an interest in the potential for wine in the region. He has continued his interest and traveled to the region for the past 25 years.
In 2014, after writing many articles about the wines and wineries of the region, he published Russian Wine Country: Sleeping Beauty Awakens, which is available on Amazon.
From 1992 to 2000, Mr. Borden worked with two wineries of the former Soviet Union, and became the first to bring modern packaging to wineries in southern Russia that had little or no bottling facilities. He was responsible for two joint ventures to package some of Russia’s best wines using the modern bag-in-box system, which has now been adopted by many Russian wineries.
Mr. Borden is currently IT Manager for OLMA Fund, a Paris private equity fund with investments in France and Russia that includes Domaine Chanzy, a 100 hectare Burgundy wine producer, and Chateau Signac, a winery with 38 hectares in Côtes du Rhône. He is also Director and Editor for FinancePlus, a Paris-based information service that publishes information about mid-market mergers and acquisitions, and venture capital and private equity investments for markets worldwide (www.financeplus.com).
Charles was previously Contributing Editor and Wine and Dine Reviewer for Moscow’s Passport Magazine for eight years, and was previously Editor of the English version of the Aeroflot inflight magazine, Russian Fine Art, and Russians: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. From 2003 to 2010, he contributed to the annual edition of Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book, one of the world’s most important wine books, which is also published in Russian language.
Charles is Moscow’s “consummate wine buyer” – a consumer’s friend and expert in the intricacies and complications that a shopper faces when buying a wine at a restaurant or shop in Russia.

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