|
|
The newly founded industry association "Wines of Ukraine" wants to present its wines at ProWein in May despite the Russian attack. Victoria Agromakova, managing director of Wine&Spirits Ukraine, stated this in an interview a few days ago. "Over the past eight years, winemakers on the Ukrainian mainland have done incredible work, and they will not give up now." Already with the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, the Ukrainian wine industry had to cope with the loss of its most important wine-growing region.
Today, Ukraine's 41,500 hectares of vineyards are located in three major wine-growing regions. About half of them are located near the city of Odessa. Of the 180 grape varieties, many are autochthonous. Until 2014, mainly sweet wines were produced; since then, the production of dry wines has been increasing by seven to nine percent annually.
Before Wines of Ukraine was founded, it was largely up to the wineries themselves to place their wines in the international business. Should they succeed in coming to ProWein in May, they would be able to jointly present their country's wines to an international trade audience for the first time.
(al / Source: drinksbusiness; Photo: Odessa Wine Institute)