Top 100 red wines of Ukraine - Page 2

Discovering the wine region of Ukraine

Ukraine is a large country in Eastern Europe (the second largest on the European continent, after Russia) bordering Poland to the west, Russia to the east and the Black Sea to the South. By 2014, the Ukrainian wine industry had become a major player in Eastern Europe. But that year, Crimea came under the control of Russia. There are several small wine regions in the country, which contribute to the production.

However, Crimea was (is) by far the largest, with the best conditions. Two famous wineries from the Tsarist era, Massandra and Noviy Svet, were seized in 2014, nationalized by Russia, and then heavily subsidized. Overall, wine producers gained easier access to the Russian market, but have since faced export bans to other countries due to sanctions against Russia. Crimea has a Long history of wine production, and during the Soviet era it was a Center of mass wine production distributed throughout the USSR.

However, the total area of vineyards was cut in half as Part of Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign against Alcohol abuse.