Prospects for the most "star" of the small wineries of Crimea and tasting of young wines.
OThe bottom of the most atmospheric Russia exists near Sevastopol in the village of Rodnoy - Uppa in Crimean Tatar. This is the name of the river, a tributary of the larger Chernaya River, which flows into the Sevastopol Bay. Once in the center of the village, where the market, general store and secondary school are adjacent, you will see vineyards high on the mountain slope. They turn out to be as high as they are hard to reach: we have before us one of the few wineries in the country where the creator did not think about the convenience of logistics and communications, but about the advantages of the terroir.
Appellation Sebastopol Control
The fact that a native of Sevastopol, the famous Moscow sommelier Pavel Shvets, the first champion of the First Russian Sommelier Competition (1999), became interested in biodynamics and invests in his native terroirs, has long been talked about in the capital. In 2007 in the village of Rodnoe, after a thorough search for suitable land, the first vines originating from the Guillaume nursery in Burgundy were planted. Pavel Shvets chose special names for vineyards - Cler Nummulite(nummulites, calcareous fossils were found here) and Cler Politi- from the old Russian beds, the upper hot couch in the hut. Here were planted cabernet sauvignon , merlot ,pinot noir , sauvignon blanc , Riesling , gewürztraminer , muscat , chardonnay , as well as exotic for our country barbera . 10 hectares of picturesque vineyards, where ideological biodynamics is confessed: no pesticides, plant protection products, only biodynamic fertilizers, for example, the famous “drug 500” - manure that has lain from autumn to spring equinox in a cow horn in a vineyard.
A few years ago, Shvets took up the promotion of his wines in Ukraine with great enthusiasm. On the Internet flashed reports of his tastings: Kiev, Odessa, Lvov. In the latter, for its consonance with the UPA, the winery aroused great interest. Few wines came to Russia - imports still - however, Pavel's charisma, biodynamic flair and longing for good Crimean wines created a certain legend from Uppa. The economy gradually settled down, a young energetic team started working here. Winemaker Alexey Chernega turns 27 this year.
March 2014 became the rise of Uppa, when, after the well-known events “ winery state» Pavel Shvets has become a Russian winery. Alas, immediately after joining Russia, problems began related to the Unified State Automated Information System and other delights of domestic wine regulation.
To the credit of Pavel Shvets, he did not give up, becoming the mouthpiece of the Crimean winemakers, conveying to the federal authorities not only peninsular, but also all-Russian problems. Pavel joined the team of Alexei Chaly, the famous “man in a sweater”, who signed an agreement with Putin on the entry of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation. Chaly, the current head of the Sevastopol Legislative Assembly, favorably welcomed Shvets' project to create an advanced wine-growing region in Sevastopol, including it in the key points of the city's development along with historical tourism and the revival of scientific research institutes.
— I do not hide my ambitions to sell my wines not only in Russia, but all over the world. And for this I want to answer the question “Where is your wine from?”, I could answer: “From Sevastopol”, and this meant a recognizable region says Pavel.
He has long been trying to unite local winemakers in a new wine consortium that protects the terroir origin of Sevastopol wines. Even a wine-educational project has been launched in the city, where lectures are given by Pavel and invited experts.
However, it is not so simple.
Within the framework of Sevastopol, such giants as "Golden beam" and "Inkerman" , and microwineries Shvetsa Yes Oleg Repin . The last - once or twice and miscalculated. On the other hand, the Sevastopol residents are on the side of the fact that their 5,000 hectares of vineyards are located in the smallest subject of the Russian Federation with a population of 400,000. The authorities here are literally at arm's length and winemakers are able to hear. Well, there and the Kremlin, where they are interested in the rapid and even demonstrative development of the Crimea, is within easy reach.
Vizier's visit
At the beginning of the year Pavel Shvets excitedly presented Dmitry Medvedev strategy for the development of winemaking in Sevastopol. The result was Prime Minister's Visit to Uppu accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture Alexandra Tkacheva, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, leaders of Crimea and Sevastopol. What can I say, it's nice that once a year the prime minister (last year it was Lefkadia and Abrau-Durso), and it's doubly nice that a small enterprise was chosen from all over Crimea.
It was, in particular, about. Russian winemakers and consumers have been waiting for this since the 2015 harvest.
- Let's regulate this so that it would be impossible to write "Taste of Crimea" if it is not made from Crimean products, and "give a hat" to those who do it. (...) Then you need to write: made from South African wine material, for example. A person will consciously buy and understand what he is buying, quote RIA-Novosti the words of the prime minister.
Let's hope that the hats on the pourers will soon light up, and the result of the visit will be not just an unprecedented advertisement for Uppa, but also progress in protecting all Russian wines.
hipster biodynamics
Uppa itself, in addition to sales growth, has seen qualitative changes this year. Firstly, a cellar and a vinification hall were completed according to the project of a Spanish architect Fernando Menisa, work with the harvest-2014 is already going on there. Secondly, a new compact Laboratory Biosystems , allowing you to thoroughly control the quality of wines. Finally, the main winemaker became Alexander Pinchuk, he is one of the few in our country who has experience of working with the world's leading consultants, besides, he was a winemaker for several years and one of the directors "Lefkadia" .
Over the past year, I visited the Uppa twice, and in April I spent two whole days at all. The atmosphere that has settled here is rare for Russian winemaking - the spirit is either Burgundy or New World, and, in general, a little slovenly. It is noticeable how the winemaking team spends day and night here, obviously considering Uppa as their second home. Pavel Shvets arrives - invariably with a large company of guests in the cab and back of his off-road pickup truck. The guests disperse through the vineyards, overwhelmed by the good views for Facebook, at the same time, a tasting is taking place in one of the halls, and Shvets is holding a meeting with his biodynamist consultants on the summer terrace. Work is honored here Rudolf Steiner and Alexa Podolinsky, by the way, an ethnic Ukrainian who became famous in the field of biodynamics in Australia.
Biodynamics in Shvets without toys - even the bare minimum of sulfur both in the bottle and in the vineyard. Considering the absence in our country, and even more so in the unrecognized Crimea, of the control of international biodynamic associations, Pavel's persistence in this matter is striking. Problems with oidium already started last year - but it is fundamentally against plant protection products, which means that the solution of biodynamic problems is yet to come. The same applies to the stability of the quality of wines, however, the mentioned recent changes in Upp are designed to improve the situation.
The most pleasant thing is that Shvets is building a completely new model of a Russian winery on his hard-to-reach slopes. This is not a post-Soviet holding and not a toy of big business, which already exist in Crimea. This is not a garage-partisan enterprise, because Shvets managed to get a license even under current laws. We are talking about a small winery, tied to the terroir, producing quite popular and rare wines that are sold for serious money. In this regard, Uppa is forging a new path for Russian small-scale wines - what can you do, manual labor, biodynamics, vineyards on the slopes and similar details that affect quality are worth their money all over the world. So far, no one has ventured into such adventures.
Whether Paul will be able to defend this right is the question of the coming years. The vector of development of small winemaking in our country will depend on the results of the experiment.
Wine tasting of some Uppas from the 2014 vintage
In April 2015, samples of the new crop were sampled from barrels and vats. A common feature of the wines of Pavel Shvets, like all Sevastopol wines, is high acidity for Russia, elegance, relatively low (again for Russia) alcohol and pronounced fruit tones.
In 2007, the famous Moscow sommelier, restaurateur with 15 years of experience and the winner of many competitions, enthusiastic and energetic, Pavel Shvets founded his own world-class winery - Uppa Winery - in the Crimea, where he comes from. Uppa is the name of the river in the village of Rodnoe, where the winery is located, 20 km from Sevastopol in the direction of Yalta, the name of which is translated from Tatar as "mother".
Here he introduced all his knowledge and experience from the field of winemaking, setting up vineyards and building a winery based on the principles of biodynamics and an ecological approach. The goal is to create the most terroir premium wines.
The farm is located on the picturesque hills of the Chernorechenskaya valley on 16 hectares on the southern slope of Zybuk-Tepe mountain. An area of more than 7 hectares has been allocated for vineyards, which is logically divided into two parts: Palati and Nummulit. For each of them, the most suitable grape varieties were specially selected. All seedlings are brought from one of the best French nurseries - Gouillaume in Burgundy. Height above sea level 370-380m. The soils are brown mountain-forest on carbonate subsoils. Shaping - one-layer Guyo on a trellis. The stem height is 60 cm. The dense planting density - 5000 vines/ha - was not chosen by chance and serves to create a moisture deficit in the upper horizons, so that the root system rushes down into the soil layers depleted in humus to create more complex and mineral wines.
Vineyard Cler Palati named after the hottest part of the Russian stove, as the maximum amount of solar heat gets here, thanks to the southeastern exposure of the slopes on which it is located. Area 3.1 ha. The rows are arranged strictly from north to south. Varieties such as Pinot Noir, Merlot, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Muscat blanc, Muscat ottonel are grown here.
Vineyard Cler Nummulite(from Latin numus coin, medal, and Greek lithos stone) - a flat shell, similar to a small coin - located on the site of an ancient sea with a layer of sea shells, giving excellent minerality to wines. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are grown here. The area of this vineyard is 4.2 hectares. The exposure of the slopes is southwestern and the rows are located to the southwest. The farm uses exclusively environmentally friendly methods of processing and fertilizing plots and wine production.
Man acts only as an assistant to natural processes; pesticides and chemical fertilizers are not used here. All actions on the sites are carried out according to the lunar calendar using various herbal infusions, essential oils, teas, special biodynamic preparations 500 and 501.
All processes on the territory of the Uppa winery are carried out strictly in accordance with the main philosophy of Pavel Shvets - to create exceptional terroir wines of the highest quality, purity and style:
Our task is not to spoil, preserve and emphasize the real taste of Crimea in wine.
I first saw Pavel a few years ago when he acted as the host of one of the professional competitions. Charming, emotional, inspired, he literally flew around the stage. It was noticeable that he, the winner of the First Russian Sommelier Competition, treats the contestants with great understanding and sympathy and does not formally do his job, but puts his whole soul into it. So he does everything, no matter what he does, and he has a lot of work: he is the manager and sommelier of the Salon De Gusto restaurant, the founder of a wine trading company specializing in biodynamic wines. And recently, Pavel Shvets decided to take up winemaking himself - and following all the rules of biodynamics - and now he is growing his own vineyard in the Crimea.
What is biodynamics and why did you decide to focus on biodynamic wines?
I decided to work with biodynamic wines because I believe that one should always strive for the best in one's work.
Wine is born in the vineyard and the quality of the wine depends on the quality of the grapes. The berry juice is the future sugar in wine, the skin is its color and aroma, the pits are tannins. By varying the ratio of these three components, you can get a wine of a certain style. The winemaker should know that the accumulation of sugar in the berry depends on the air temperature and the number of clusters on the vine, the amount of coloring and aromatic substances is affected by lighting ...
If the winemaker grows ripe, healthy berries, with the perfect balance of taste, aroma and tannin, then he does not need to do anything else - just crush these berries and wait until a good wine is made. Well, maybe to perform the simplest operations.
But if you cannot grow the perfect berry, you need to use modern vinification methods. The so-called "flying winemakers" will gladly tell you about them - consultant oenologists who are so popular all over the world today and who are ready to fly to any part of the world to give advice on how to make wine better. But after all the technological actions, the "spirit" of the terroir is no longer felt in the wine, the drink loses the uniqueness that distinguishes each vineyard, because there are no identical plots of land, just as there are no identical people.
Such devoid of individuality, "technogenic" wines are no different from each other. I was struck by one case: I tried a Sauvignon Blanc with tones of red currant leaves from the Italian region of Alto Adige. And then I discovered the same aroma in wines from Chile and Pessac-Leognon (and of a very high level). At first I liked the wine from Alto Adige, but when I realized that its aroma was unnatural, I was not interested in it. Only by studying wines, one can understand where the aroma is artificial, obtained by technological methods, and where is live, natural. And I realized that main feature biodynamic wines - this is precisely the individuality.
A lot has been said and written about biodynamics, but at the same time, in my opinion, there is not a single article that clearly explains what it is. First, a few words must be said about biological wines.
In a nutshell, these are wines made from organically grown grapes without the use of herbicides, pesticides or other chemicals. Bio is cleanliness at the enterprise and in the vineyard. The essence of any biological enterprise, no matter what it produces - vegetables, fruits or wine, is that during the time until one crop grows, exactly as many nutrients must be taken from the soil as it is able to reproduce as a result of its natural work. . We must not forget about the health of the earth, that there is no vacuum in nature and that everything in it is interconnected. The person acts as a conductor, a manager. And you can manage only natural, natural methods.
But biodynamics is already a science, philosophy and technology of this management, which is based on the experience of a huge number of generations, civilizations and cultures. Biodynamics is based on the laws of nature, on cosmic rhythms. After all, everything on earth, including the life cycles of a living cell, is subject to rhythms from the outside. Biodynamics explains how to cultivate the land, what and when to do in accordance with these rhythms, how to build a calendar by which to live. In pagan times, people were closer to the earth, lived in harmony with it. But today, when we have all the benefits of civilization, we have stopped paying attention to cosmic rhythms. And this is wrong. Have you noticed that people who live in nature are healthier, they have louder laughter and a more cheerful look? There is no witchcraft in biodynamics, everything is very simple and understandable.
However, some things are very difficult for an uninitiated person to understand ...
I understand what you mean. There are peculiar drugs in biodynamics: the most common of them are No. 500 and No. 501.
For the production of preparation No. 500, manure is taken, placed in a cow horn and buried in the ground. After some time, the horn is dug up, its contents are diluted in 100 liters of water, a hectare of land is cultivated with this - and the soil becomes energetically active. The action of this drug is difficult to explain, but we see the result. We cannot explain much, we do not fully know how our brain works. We have created computers and spaceships, but we do not understand why we love one person and not another. For now, you have to take it for granted.
Preparation No. 501 is simpler: these are quartz crystals ground into powder. When grapes do not have enough sunlight, this powder is sprinkled on grape leaves (1 teaspoon per hectare of land) - to increase photosynthesis. But if you treated the vineyard with quartz and the sun came out, the vineyard would burn. Therefore, this drug should be used very carefully.
Please tell us about your winery.
This is a non-commercial project. I started working on it four years ago. It always seemed to me that winemakers are very happy people, and I dreamed of my own vineyard. I was looking for a place for a long time, I wanted to start from scratch. And now, near Sevastopol, where I come from, I found a site: quite high in the mountains, 350 meters above sea level. There are all conditions for the production of dry wine - not very hot and enough rainfall, 650 mm per year - by the way, in Sevastopol, just 15 km from there - only 300 mm. The Uppa River (translated from the ancient Tatar it means "mother"), from which the vineyard got its name, forms a special climatic microzone.
Preparations for planting grapes went on for three years. A lot of time was spent on paperwork. The land belonged to the peasants, I got to know them personally and explained what I wanted to do. Then we uprooted old trees, conducted laboratory soil tests, searched for people, equipment (you have no idea how difficult it is to import tractors to Ukraine), pure biological fertilizers. Then it was necessary to purchase planting material - for each plot we selected separate clones and rootstocks.
And in the spring, on April 17 - as expected, on the growing moon - we planted French seedlings of six varieties: Pinot Noir, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon. There is no such region in the world where all wines from all these varieties would be equally good. But, since we have no experience in growing grapes and producing high-quality wine, we will have to experiment. I collected a lot of research on the climate of this area, we took into account the conditions of microzones, winds, precipitation and many different factors. However, no one will tell you in advance which variety will grow better.
On what basis did you select grape varieties?
I love Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon. Merlot grows well in cool climates, but the Crimea is a difficult region. Winters are cold here, summers are hot, the growing season of plants is short ... I chose the scheme and density of planting, the arrangement of rows (from east to west or from north to south) for a long time. On the steeper sections of the slope, we planted Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. If the cabernet sauvignon comes out strong, I might need it to improve the merlot. Out of 16 hectares, we have processed 4.2 hectares so far. But all biodynamicists say that this is too much: more than 3 hectares per year is never planted, because large areas are very difficult to cultivate in a biodynamic way.
Making dry wines in the Crimea is a rather bold decision, because all the Crimean wines known and recognized in the world are fortified.
All worthwhile winemaking projects in Crimea and Russia are non-commercial. Biodynamics is a risk, because you can lose a large part of the crop. If you use the old methods, you will get a not so high-quality, but stable harvest. I risk my money to satisfy my interests and desires. I don't owe anything to anyone, and that's very important to me. Until enthusiasts invest their money in winemaking, we will not have really good wine. It is much easier to buy wine materials in Chile or Argentina, bring them in tankers and bottle them. This is correct if we talk only about business, but not about art.
I was interested in the production of dry wines in the Crimea, read many books and found out that until the 50s of the last century, good dry wines were made here. Then it was decided to double the volume of production, built factories for the processing of wine materials by the in-line method, brought out high-yielding grape varieties, and used chemistry. All this was done in order to produce a lot of cheap wine. And the frames for 60 years were "forged" appropriate, and the same thing continues now. Unfortunately, there is nothing to talk about with our older generation winemakers, we have no one to learn from. And it is very difficult to find a good oenologist here, and I was lucky that I found a young specialist who was not spoiled by the old approach to wine production - this is Andrey Staiko. By the way, he graduated from the university with a gold medal and defended his diploma on the topic of organic winemaking. I was introduced to him by the wife of the director of the Odessa Champagne Factory, Ph.D., head of the laboratory at the Department of Viticulture and Winemaking of Odessa University. She is a true enthusiast! - opened students' eyes to the state of affairs in the industry. Before that, I traveled to many specialized educational institutions, I was in Simferopol, in Kiev, I told students about my project, but no one showed interest.
When will we see the result and what do you expect from it? What will the new wine be like?
We will collect the first harvest in 3 years, and I will strive to show the individuality and uniqueness of the terroir in my wines. The grapes will be as alive as possible, because we will process them very gently. As for the taste and aroma, I can’t say anything, I don’t even know if the wines will be varietal or assemblage. Until I even began to design a winery, I don’t know what area of the cellar I need.
Who are your potential consumers?
These are my friends and partners. I hope that in 3-4 years I will be able to create a club of lovers of real wines. We plan to plant a total of 12 hectares of vineyards, from which we will get 60-70 thousand bottles of wine, which is quite a bit. I am sure that people will be interested in quality wines from the Crimea.
In 2007, the famous Moscow sommelier, restaurateur with 15 years of experience and the winner of many competitions, enthusiastic and energetic, Pavel Shvets founded his own world-class winery - Uppa Winery - in the Crimea, where he comes from. Uppa is the name of the river in the village of Rodnoe, where the winery is located, 20 km from Sevastopol in the direction of Yalta, the name of which is translated from Tatar as "mother".
Here he introduced all his knowledge and experience from the field of winemaking, setting up vineyards and building a winery based on the principles of biodynamics and an ecological approach. The goal is to create the most terroir premium wines.
The farm is located on the picturesque hills of the Chernorechenskaya valley on 16 hectares on the southern slope of Zybuk-Tepe mountain. An area of more than 7 hectares has been allocated for vineyards, which is logically divided into two parts: Palati and Nummulit. For each of them, the most suitable grape varieties were specially selected. All seedlings are brought from one of the best French nurseries - Gouillaume in Burgundy. Height above sea level 370-380m. The soils are brown mountain-forest on carbonate subsoils. Shaping - one-layer Guyo on a trellis. The stem height is 60 cm. The dense planting density - 5000 vines/ha - was not chosen by chance and serves to create a moisture deficit in the upper horizons, so that the root system rushes down into the soil layers depleted in humus to create more complex and mineral wines.
Vineyard Cler Palati named after the hottest part of the Russian stove, as the maximum amount of solar heat gets here, thanks to the southeastern exposure of the slopes on which it is located. Area 3.1 ha. The rows are arranged strictly from north to south. Varieties such as Pinot Noir, Merlot, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Muscat blanc, Muscat ottonel are grown here.
Vineyard Cler Nummulite(from Latin numus coin, medal, and Greek lithos stone) - a flat shell, similar to a small coin - located on the site of an ancient sea with a layer of sea shells, giving excellent minerality to wines. Merlot, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are grown here. The area of this vineyard is 4.2 hectares. The exposure of the slopes is southwestern and the rows are located to the southwest. The farm uses exclusively environmentally friendly methods of processing and fertilizing plots and wine production.
Man acts only as an assistant to natural processes; pesticides and chemical fertilizers are not used here. All actions on the sites are carried out according to the lunar calendar using various herbal infusions, essential oils, teas, special biodynamic preparations 500 and 501.
All processes on the territory of the Uppa winery are carried out strictly in accordance with the main philosophy of Pavel Shvets - to create exceptional terroir wines of the highest quality, purity and style:
Our task is not to spoil, preserve and emphasize the real taste of Crimea in wine.
Interview with the most charismatic Crimean winemaker.
Winner of the title of the best sommelier in Russia in 2000, Pavel Shvets began working on his own wine ten years ago. For a long time he actively promoted Russian winemaking, but did not find proper support. And now he admits that the association with Russian wine is rather a minus for his business.
The wines of the Sevastopol estate Uppa always attract attention: at almost any tasting, at exhibitions and festivals, Pavel Shvets' booth is not overcrowded. Everyone wants to join the domestic biodynamics and try some of the most expensive Russian wines (a bottle costs an average of about four thousand rubles). Radio801 and the program "" managed to get acquainted with the wines of "Uppa" at the exhibition "Prodexpo-2017". Pavel Shvets interrupted business negotiations and gave us a few minutes.
About biodynamics
There is no biodynamic winemaking, there is biodynamic viticulture. This is the process of growing berries according to certain rhythms, agricultural techniques that allow you to create an ideal berry. chemical composition. Depending on the chemical composition of the berry, you get certain components in the wine. Learning how to manage the processes in the vineyard is the main thing that a winemaker should do.
Of course, you can use modern methods with poisons, chemicals, various mineral fertilizers, but when super quality is the main thing, biodynamics is a necessary process. Using biodynamic methods, I can grow berries in harmony with nature and the environment.
Biodynamics in our case is by no means marketing. We make cool wine, good, tasty. I understand that any wine, any alcohol is poison, and I won't say that, they say, biodynamics, organic winemaking is useful. This is not the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.
About the high price of their wines
I personally invested all the money in my own project, I have neither loans nor partners. This is how I rate my wine. If someone doesn't like it, they can buy something else. My wine is in demand, it is clear to many people who are very knowledgeable about wine, they hunt for it, buy it for their collection.
On the prospects of Russian wine
For several years in a row I tried to promote Russian winemaking, but I saw that among our winemakers there are people who understand that O there is wine and for what it is made deeply, very little. I tried to create a Sevastopol wine region, I understood how to make Russian wine recognizable and fit into the world market. But neither the law, nor the regulations, nor, most importantly, the winemakers are ready. Basically, Russian winemakers are small-town businessmen, for whom wine is the fifth or twenty-fifth business. Consumers are not ready either.
For two years I tumbled and tried, but I realized that for my own brand, the association with Russian wine even has a minus sign. Within ten years, new names will not appear, there will be the same cripples that we see today. I made a decision for myself and no longer do anything that is connected with the support of Russian wine. I'm Pavel Shvets and I just make my own wine.
Listen to the full interview on the Radio801 page on the Soundcloud website. You can also download the podcast there.
