Wine tourism in Russia

Let's talk about tourism, but not simple, but wine tourism. This is a special kind of tourism, which involves traveling with visits to vineyards and wineries, studying the production of wine and tasting it. Such an adventure will help you start understanding grape varieties, mastering the rules of tasting and flavor combinations.

Wine tourism aims to enhance the culture of wine consumption. Today, the Russians no longer have a demand for something to simply “get addicted to freebies”. They want to learn how to distinguish good from mediocre wine, not just drink, but evaluate the color of the wine, its aroma, notes of taste and aftertaste. The real tasting is not about the quantity of the drink, but about the quality.

It may seem to many that wine tourism in Russia is impossible. Yes, maybe somewhere in the New World or Italy ... But, no wonder, Russian wine farms are now developing very actively and today they can compete with expensive European wines, so interest in wine tourism is growing every year.

Portrait of a wine tourist

5-7 years ago 2 types of wine tourists could be distinguished. The first one is a person who is very fond of wine. Such a tourist was usually simply offered a tour of the winery and study of the technical side of wine production. The second is the average Black Sea tourist who came to the sea and out of boredom went to the winery, where they “pour for free”.

Today the wine tourist is a middle-class person who is interested in the "culture of drinking" and wants to understand the topic of wine, dive into the issue and explore everything, enjoy the aesthetics. Someone even wants to learn how to crush grapes on their own, like the notorious Adriano Celentano in the movie “The Taming of the Shrew”. Usually these tourists come purposefully on a wine tour, select a program, and do not go to wineries “out of boredom”.

Wine tourism regions

From the point of view of wine tourism, the most attractive two regions are the Krasnodar Territory and the Crimea. Not only beautiful nature and historical sights are concentrated here, but also the largest number of wineries with huge areas for vineyards, and, as a conclusion, with the largest number of places for wine tourism. If we consider the Krasnodar Territory, then the main zone of wine tourism is concentrated from Taman to Gelendzhik. It is here that most of the vineyards are concentrated - they occupy 60% of the total plantings in Russia. Official statistics show that there are 50 wineries in the region, of which 19 provide guided tours.

The most famous wineries of the Krasnodar Territory:

• Abrau-Dyurso (Novorossiysk);
• Lefkadia (Moldavanskoe village).

In Crimea, the centers of wine tourism are Sevastopol and the surrounding regions, as well as the East Coast. Winemaking has been practiced here for over 2000 years, honoring the traditions of Greek and Italian winemakers. The Crimeans even came up with a wine road. The idea is as follows: this is a 480 km road, along the way of which there are wineries and restaurants, where you can get to know Crimea through wines and food prepared by the hands of local craftsmen from products that are produced in local farms. There are even signs all along the road to points of interest where you can taste wine.

• Massandra (Yalta);
• Koktebel (coast of Koktebel Bay, 20 km from Feodosia);
• Inkerman (Sevastopol).

 Is a wine tour expensive?

Today there are a large number of wineries with offerings for different segments. Therefore, the number of tourist programs is very extensive, and their prices vary greatly. When it comes to a good quality wine tour, where there are restaurants with delicious local food and good wine tasting, visiting beautiful wineries cannot be cheap. In addition, it is possible to individually select a tour based on your financial capabilities. If you wish, you can even fly a helicopter over the vineyards.

Prospects for the development of wine tourism

The new direction of tourism has attracted the attention of the Ministry of Agriculture. It was decided to allocate over 2 billion rubles for the implementation of the project "Development of rural tourism in the Russian Federation." According to forecasts, by 2025 there will be more than 3 thousand players in this sector, which will increase the turnover of the tourism industry by 3 billion rubles a year.

It is reported that last year, despite the pandemic, about half a million people visited the tasting rooms of wineries in Crimea.

• Grapes