Ukraine Is A Small But Mighty Market For Wine

Ukraine Is A Small But Mighty Market For Wine

Tough times for Ukrainians includes the wine industry, which suffered a loss after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, the formerly autonomous state within Ukraine and its historic center of production. The 2014 invasion, notes the Wines of Ukraine web site, "has been a heavy blow to the industry" with more than half its production—mostly semi-sweet and dessert wines—lost. In that annexation, 61, 780 acres of vineyards seized, including the historic Massandra winery. But those events pushed the industry to refocus its productions of "western-style dry wines," the web site noted (understandably, no one was returning emails at this time), especially in Transcarpathia to the west. The site reports since 2015, dry wine production has grown 7 to 9% every year. Here's what else to know about Ukraine's wines: REGIONS. Ukraine consists of four wine-growing provinces or "oblasts" in the south: Mykolaiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa with the latter comprising almost 50% of the total area. The southern regions are influenced by the Black Sea, which offers beneficial conditions for the historic vins doux naturels (sweet) and fortified production here. In Transcarpathia to the west, 8, 000 hectares are under vine, a region characterized by volcanic soils, a continental climate (hot