How Russia’s War on Ukraine Threatens Decades of Winemaking Progress
Ukraine has a lengthy viticultural history, with some important international connections. New York winemaking pioneer Konstantin Frank was born in Odessa, now Ukraine’s third-largest city, and used his knowledge of cold-weather viticulture to help launch the wine industry in the Finger Lakes region. In Ukraine, immigrant vintners from Switzerland planted the vineyards in Shabo, south of Odessa, as early as 1822, while the country’s oldest winemaking company, now known as OdessaVinProm, was founded by a winemaker from France in 1857. “During the Soviet era, we lost all of the vines,” says Stakhovsky. “They were not just left there, they were actually cut out of the ground. We had to start from scratch at the end of the ’90s. Since then, we’ve made incredible progress.” (Beverage Industry Enthusiast).