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 Those of us who have been following the happenings in Ukraine earlier this year would perhaps recall that the pro-Russian Crimean territory in the south-eastern part of Ukraine was annexed by Russia in March this year with a treaty signed by Russia and Crimea that resulted even in sanctions imposed by the USA and the West. These still exist, even though India has not supported them or even voiced concern at the Kremlin's support for an armed uprising by the pro-Russian rebels in this region, a part of Ukraine.
The entourage of President Putin also included Sergey Aksyonov, PM of Crimea who held a meeting in a New Delhi hotel reportedly with a Mumbai businessman Gul Kripalani, a seafood merchant who is the chairman of a group known as the Indian-Crimean Partnership, to discuss boosting trade with the Black Sea nation. Known for his keen desire to export Crimean wines to India, it is a given that the PM also broached upon the subject of Crimean wine export though it cannot be ascertained if President Putin did so at any point during his one day visit talking about arms and nuclear deals.
Crimea and its wines
A wine culture already existed in today's Ukraine (before the annexation of its eastern part) in the 4th century BC at the south coast of Crimea. Several presses and amphoras have been found here from this period. But known vine cultivation took place only under Catherine II in 1783. The first wine gardens came up in 1820 and a large winery was established near the seaside resort of Yalta.
During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Crimea became a Republic within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the USSR. In the World War II it was downgraded to a Province and in 1954 transferred to Ukraine, according to Wikipedia. It became autonomous within the new independent Ukraine in 1991 with the disintegration of USSR with Sevastopol as the ‘capital,’ within Ukraine but outside of the Autonomous Republic.
Several vineyards like Massandra and Novy Svet have been operating for over a century, producing sweet and fortified wines in the southern French style. The local wines have even impressed French film star and oenophile Gérard Depardieu who became a Russian citizen last year to avoid high taxes in France. He purchased in 2012 several vineyards south of Simferopol, the Capital—which lies at the same latitude as Bordeaux where he is involved in wine making with the help of his billionaire friend Bernard Magrez who has several vineyards and wineries in several countries, including the famous Chateau Pape Clement in Bordeaux.
The main varietals used in wines in Crimea are Aligoté, Muscat, Traminer, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and local varieties Isabella, Feteasca-a traditional Romanian and Moldovan variety and Rkatsiteli-the most popular Georgian white grape. It also produces good quality sparkling wines known as ‘Russian Champagne’. The over-ripe grapes due to the local weather conditions are also suitable for sweet and fortified wines like Madera, Port, Sherry and Vins doux Naturels.
Many of Crimea’s vineyards were previously government-owned but are slowly being returned to their owners and the operators hope to regain control of their businesses under the Russian government. The Russian government is exhorting the biggest retailers in Russia to encourage sales of Crimean wines which have more than doubled their share in a short time since annexation. The import taxes were reportedly not waived off till last month when I met several wine professionals from central Europe in Amsterdam during the World Bulk Wine Exhibition. It must be on the cards or otherwise it would become embarrassing for the Russian government to annexe a country, call its own and yet treat it separately for taxation.
With the visit of President Putin, the meetings and known wishes of Sergey Aksyonov, the PM of Crimea, and his meeting with at least some people where he would have expressed his desire to export wines from his country to India, the current Eldorado for many nations, the baby steps have been taken. Results may come eventually provided they keep walking the talk in terms of wine promotion, but not as fast as they might expect or wish.
No matter how good the wines are, no matter that they were the prized wines of the Czars, no matter that Czar Nicholas II had founded the historical Massandra winery in 1894 to provide wine for his summer residence, Indian consumers, hoteliers and importers are not yet aware of the quality or even whether the country produces wine. There are already quality wines from Greece,  Hungary, Georgia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia and several other central European countries, waiting in the wings-much ahead of Crimea, who have not tasted success yet. We rule out the possibility of importing the sweet and fortified wines anyway as they have few takers in India.
Only in the case of an unlikely situation of the Indian government negotiating a barter deal would this import be feasible. In that case, Crimean wines will have a head start-the bonus for the Indian consumer would be a fast-track awareness created in the mind of the Indian government officials about wine. This could be utopian but the best thing that could happen to the Indian wine market.
Meanwhile, Duma-the lower house of Russian parliament, is considering imposing a ban on the imports of French wine to Russia, according to Decanter, as retaliation to the economic sanctions imposed and due to the French government's decision to suspend the transfer of Mistral amphibious assault ships to Russia as part of wider sanctions by the European Union and US following the political crisis in Ukraine. Russia had already imposed ban on the import of wines from Georgia (now lifted) and Moldova due to political reasons. It will be curious to see if the French wines which have a 20% share of Russian imports, will face the red flag soon and perhaps pave the way for Crimean wines.
Subhash Arora |