Incredibly, Ukraine becomes mainstream.

 

First at SITT in February and then at the London Wine Festival in May, there was a substantial presence of wines from Ukraine. Before Putin's war, wines from Ukraine hardly got a look-in but now all that has changed and everyone is doing their best to make things happen. Hardly an easy task.

Yevhenii Hontaruk, sales Manager means business

How wine continues to be produced in Ukraine (or what's left of it in the absence of Crimea) is a tale of heroic endeavor but then there is the no small matter of how this show gets on the road with getting wines and people out of Ukraine and into the UK, all for our delectation. 

We have tried to import wine from Ukraine but  found it impossible. No courier companies can operate there. How do 'Wines of Ukraine' manage it?

On top of all that, the wines are good and individual. 

First, a 'Known known' - Shabo's Telti-Kuruk Reserve. No stranger to these pages, this was the wine we tried to buy and have sent to us in London. The wine is divine. The grape Telti-Kuruk is a major discovery when made as well as this. Telti-Kuruk is said to have originated in Armenia. Synonyms include Telti Kourouk, Telti Kuruk, Tilki Kuyrugu and Tilky Rairuk. The parentage is unknown.

 

Next what might be called a known unknown, Sukholimansky Bely is a white grape variety; a cross made in Ukraine between Chardonnay and a grape called Plavai dating from 1948 with plant variety protection granted in 1969. It has been used in a more recent crossing to produce Kangun. It is frost resistant down to - 20 Celsius which is hand for the Ukranian winter.

We tasted both natural and traditional versions of Sukholimansky at the impressive and extensive Ukrainian stand.

This excellent version comes from the Frumushika Nova winery in the Bolgradsky district of the Odesa region.

Anatolii Pavlovskyi, Ukkranian Wine Co. Online Trade.

Anatolii points out where Frumushika Nova vineyards are located

It is cultivated in Kherson, Nikolaev and Odesa regions and makes sparkling and still wines and is also used as a table grape. Outside Ukraine it is planted in Moldova and Russia to a lesser extent.

There were other Sukholimanskys. This variety seems to be well established in the Ukraine. In fact it is more widely planted that Telti-Kuruk which to our minds is more attractive.

And now for something so completely different that it could be called the unknown unknown - Citronniy Magaracha. Magarach is of course the famous wine research centre and vineyard in Crimea founded by Count Vorontsov in 1828. 

Citronniy Magaracha was obtained at the institute in 1978 by a breeder called P.Y. Goldriga from Madeleine Angevine with Magarach 124-66-26 x Novoukrainsky Ranny, Rkatsiteli, Csaba Gyongye and two table grapes from Uzbekistan (Nimrang and Taifi Rozovy if you must know). Its frost tolerance is down to -25 degrees and is resistant to various fungal diseases. As its name suggests it has pronounced citrus notes as well as a touch of Muscat. There are plantings in Russia as well as Ukraine.

New grape varieties take a long time to develop. On the strength of Citronny Magaracha, it boggles the mind to think of what must go on to arrive at a new variety in cases such as this one. Amazingly the result has real personality and fills a gap in the taste spectrum, including Citrus/lemon as the name suggests. Muscat and peach flavours have also been identified. Wines may be dry or sweet. What's not to like?

Magarach is of course the venerable grape breeding and wine producing institution founded in the Crimea in Tsarist times by Count Michael Vorontsov. One wonders what is going on there now.

All this was a welcome surprise firstly because it is the first Magarach variety we think we have ever tasted and then because it is so very good. This bottle comes from our new friends at Frumushika Nova.

Now no longer unknown unknown.

For the reds, Odessa Black or Odesa Cherny is familiar from other wine fairs. We first tasted it some years ago at Pro-Wein, Duesseldorf. Here it was more impressive. 

A cross between Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon sounds simple compered with Citronniy Magarach and indeed Odesa Cherny has been taken up in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czeck Republic under the name Alibernet. Children of Alibernet include Neronet and Rubinet.

Another Odesa Black this time from Villa Tinta who are clearly quite a prominent producer.

 

Other producers represented were Starkhovsky, Biologist and Shabo of course. Apparently Sergiy Starkhovsky is the name of Ukraine's best tennis player. It was the Starkhovsky representative who first told us about Citronniy Magaracha although Starkhovsky's wines are more conventional (Merlot, Saparavi, Roter Traminer, Chardonnay, Riesling, Zweigelt and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Biologist is the first Ukrainian winery to announce the use of the biodynamic method in viticulture and winemaking. This is the first year it has released biodynamic wines. Just around 3000 bottles are produced.

They have 3 vineyards: one of them is in the Odesa region, and two others are in the Kyiv region, in the villages of Lisnyky and Bezradychy. They grow Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Saperavi, Grüner Veltliner, Müller-Thurgau, Weissburgunder, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay, Aligote, and the indigenous grape variety, Telti-Kuruk, which, until now, has been grown only in the south of Ukraine, in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.