Overview of Top Stories in the Russian Wine World. Every week we identify for you the top stories in Russia about wine, spirits, restaurants, beer, cider, etc. We provide an English-language summary of each of them, as well as a link if you want to learn more. Written by Evgeniy Kotelevsky, edited by Thomas Anthony.
- Entry into force of technical regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) “On the Safety of Alcoholic Products” postponed to 2024
- Russian Post presented samples of wine shipping boxes to be used in the remote alcohol sales experiment
- Boris Rodionov, the creator of the alcohol brand "Polugar", has died
- Vice-Governor of the Krasnodar region Andrey Korobka proposed allowing construction of agricultural tourism facilities on vineyard lands
- Sochi, Anapa and Gelendzhik will host "Wine Weeks of the Krasnodar Region"
- Winner of the Wine People Trophy Russia 2021 sommelier competition announced
- The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 international award ceremony will be held in Moscow for the first time.
Entry into force of technical regulation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) “On the Safety of Alcoholic Products” postponed to 2024
The EAEU technical regulation “On the Safety of Alcoholic Products,” signed in 2018, was to come into force on January 1, 2022 – but this has been postponed to 2024 by the Eurasian Economic Commission. Legally, this regulation supersedes individual state laws, including Russian Federal Law 468 "On Viticulture and Winemaking," and is the same for all EAEU member countries: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The postponement of the entry into force of the technical regulation had been requested by the Union of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia, as well as by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. The main reason is the contradiction of the technical regulation with current Russian legislation, in particular with Federal Law 468 "On viticulture and winemaking." Read the original news in Russian.
Russian Post presented samples of wine shipping boxes to be used in the remote alcohol sales experiment
The official telegram channel of Russian Post presented boxes for wine shipping with styrofoam inserts holding three or five bottles. At the moment, remote sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited in Russia. It is expected that the launch of remote sales of Russian wines with delivery by Russian Post – in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the Moscow, Leningrad, and Nizhny Novgorod regions – will be on March 31, 2022. Read the original news in Russian.
Photo: © Telegram/napоchte
Boris Rodionov, the creator of the alcohol brand "Polugar", has died
Historian, writer, and entrepreneur Boris Rodionov died in Spain on December 3 at the age of 73, after a prolonged oncological illness. Since the beginning of the 2000s, Rodionov has been researching traditional Russian spirits and has written a number of books on this topic: "The History of Russian Vodka from Polugar to the Present Day," "Truth and Lies about Russian Vodka. Antipokhlebkin," “History of Russian Strong Drinks," "Polugar. The Vodka We Lost." In addition, since 2010 he has been producing spirits under the “Polugar” brand name, positioning them as traditional Russian distillates based on historical recipes. Read the original news in Russian.
Vice-Governor of the Krasnodar region Andrey Korobka proposed allowing construction of agricultural tourism facilities on vineyard lands
At the moment, Russian law does not allow construction of such facilities on vineyard lands. Vice-Governor Andrey Korobka proposed amending the Federal Law on Viticulture and Winemaking with an article concerning "Wine Tourism," which would give viticultural and wine-making enterprises the exclusive right to place wine tourism objects on vineyard lands. Korobka emphasised that in the pre-pandemic year 2019, about 300,000 tourists visited the region's 25 wineries. The vice-governor also noted that he sees great prospects for the development of the industry and tourism in the region. Read the original news in Russian.
Sochi, Anapa and Gelendzhik will host "Wine Weeks of the Krasnodar Region"
According to a decree of the Governor of Kuban, Venyamin Kondratyev, the events will be held from December 25, 2021 to January 25, 2022. The main goal is to popularize Kuban wines in stores of national and local retail chains, as well as in On-Trade establishments. This is the second festival of Kuban wines this year — the first festival, “Wine Weeks of the Krasnodar Territory,” was held this summer. Read the original news in Russian.
Photo: © Simple Group
Winner of the Wine People Trophy Russia 2021 sommelier competition announced
The winner of the competition was Veronika Smirnova (St. Petersburg); Marina Tonkova (St. Petersburg) was second, and third place was taken by Yulia Pantina (Ufa). Over 50 participants from all over Russia took part in the competition, which focuses on Russian wines and winemaking. Wine People Trophy Russia has been held annually since 2017. The organizer of the competition is the Union of Sommeliers and Experts of Russia. Read the original news in Russian.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022 international award ceremony will be held in Moscow for the first time.
This UK award ceremony, managed by William Reed Business Media, has been conducted annually since 2002. Moscow will take its place among cities which previously hosted the ceremony, such as London, New York, Bilbao, Singapore, Melbourne, and Antwerp. Events connected with The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2022, scheduled for July 16-20, will include meetings, lectures, and workshops. Two Moscow restaurants were included in the list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2021: White Rabbit (25th place) and Twins Garden (30th place). Read the original news in Russian.
Cover photo: © DWI.