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- Victoria Makarova
- 2024-03-12
Strange as it may seem to many, there are some vineyards and quite a few wineries around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. This region is one of the rapidly developing wine regions of Ukraine – due to climate change and despite the war with Russia.
Biologist Winery is a biodynamic, low-intervention winery located in the village of Lisnyky, near Kyiv.
The winemaker and co-founder, Ihor Petrenko, is among Ukraine’s ‘new wave’ of winemakers. Ihor has been producing organic and natural wines for many years, but is not certified. In 2023, Biologist’s first release of biodynamic wines was under the symbolic name of Pershotvir, which, translated from Ukrainian, means “the first creation”.
Ihor was strongly influenced and inspired by several biodynamic winemakers, first and foremost by Michel Chapoutier (a famed biodynamic producer in the Rhône region, France). “Biodynamics totally matches my vision and perception of the world. It’s a constant search for a healthy balance in the relationship between humans, plants and animals coexisting in the same space, as well as immune protection and maintaining the biodiversity of each plot. I felt that this would be a very interesting path in viticulture and winemaking,” says Ihor.
A while ago, Ihor decided to set up biodynamic vineyards in two small plots in the villages of Lisnyky and Bezradychy (both near Kyiv). These plots boast a remarkable collection of biodynamically grown grape varieties. In Lisnyky, it’s mainly French, Austrian and German grapes: reds Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon; whites Grüner Veltliner, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay. In Bezradychy, the assortment is even more eclectic: reds Pinot Noir and Saperavi; whites Aligote, Gewürztraminer and the indigenous Telti-Kuruk, which, until now, has been grown only in the south of Ukraine.
The total area of both vineyards is less than 3ha, but every year Biologist is expanding, looking for new plots and planting more vines.
When the full-scale war began in 2022, Ihor sent his family away from Kyiv, and joined the territorial defence unit. For two weeks in a row, together with his armed fellow villagers, he was patrolling the area, but at a certain moment he realised that he was hardly effective as a combatant and got back to work.
The challenges and problems were plenty. It was time to bottle the wines. Ihor called the printing house that used to print their labels, and the answer was: sorry, we are under constant missile attacks; it‘s impossible to work, we are sitting in bomb shelters. The Biologist team decided to create their own labels using construction tape. It was a time-consuming process, but they came out quite crafty and consumers liked them, so the collection of Biologist wines produced in 2022 still sports these labels.
Another challenge was to find the team to work in the vineyards. Ihor invited some people from his village, some relatives and friends, and volunteers from Kyiv. At one point there were 15 of them living in his family house in Lisnyky. It was like a small kibbutz: they cultivated the vineyards together, cooked together, ate together, laughed and cried together.
Working in the vineyards had a therapeutic effect: fresh air, cultivating the land, watching the vines grow distracted people from the terrible news. “We are located south of Kyiv, so, thank God, our winery and vineyards were not damaged. The situation north of the capital was much worse, some fellow winemakers have suffered,” comments Ihor. He is glad that he currently has a great team, which is pure luck because many people are at the front or left the country.
How is their business doing?
“War is a terrible disaster. But we decided not to give up and look for new opportunities to grow. We support our team, find new channels for domestic sales, pay taxes, and donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Before the war, we did not export our wines. Since last year, however, we have been exporting to Poland, the Baltic countries, and Sweden, and have recently started selling to Japan,” says the winemaker.
Ihor is facing the future with a share of bitterness – and good humour too: “Making plans, especially in times of war, is making God laugh. We have a strategy, but we don’t make plans. We are working hard, investing in expanding our production and growing exports. We are planting new vineyards around Kyiv – our goal is 10 hectares. Odesa region, where we grow our grapes too, is getting hotter every year. So we are moving north. It‘s a general trend, and not only in Ukraine.”
Biologist Winery is one of 17 producers on the Wines of Ukraine stand at ProWein 2024 (March 10-12, Dusseldorf, Germany). As well as the big winemaking companies and major players such as SHABO, Chateau Chizay, Koblevo and Bolgrad, the Ukrainian national stand (13H52) will present smaller craft wineries from various parts of the country. These include Biologist Winery (Kyiv region), Sass K Winery (Zakarpattia) and Beykush Winery (Mykolaiv).
Wines of Ukraine will also present 11 producers at the London Wine Fair, May 20-22, Olympia, London, W14 8UX, England. Stand: D26.
Victoria Makarova is a Ukrainian wine expert and journalist, and representative for Wines of Ukraine. Since April 2022, Victoria has been living in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Biologist Winery is a biodynamic, low-intervention winery located in the village of Lisnyky, near Kyiv.
The winemaker and co-founder, Ihor Petrenko, is among Ukraine’s ‘new wave’ of winemakers. Ihor has been producing organic and natural wines for many years, but is not certified. In 2023, Biologist’s first release of biodynamic wines was under the symbolic name of Pershotvir, which, translated from Ukrainian, means “the first creation”.
Ihor was strongly influenced and inspired by several biodynamic winemakers, first and foremost by Michel Chapoutier (a famed biodynamic producer in the Rhône region, France). “Biodynamics totally matches my vision and perception of the world. It’s a constant search for a healthy balance in the relationship between humans, plants and animals coexisting in the same space, as well as immune protection and maintaining the biodiversity of each plot. I felt that this would be a very interesting path in viticulture and winemaking,” says Ihor.
‘Every year Biologist is expanding’
A while ago, Ihor decided to set up biodynamic vineyards in two small plots in the villages of Lisnyky and Bezradychy (both near Kyiv). These plots boast a remarkable collection of biodynamically grown grape varieties. In Lisnyky, it’s mainly French, Austrian and German grapes: reds Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon; whites Grüner Veltliner, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, Riesling and Chardonnay. In Bezradychy, the assortment is even more eclectic: reds Pinot Noir and Saperavi; whites Aligote, Gewürztraminer and the indigenous Telti-Kuruk, which, until now, has been grown only in the south of Ukraine.
The total area of both vineyards is less than 3ha, but every year Biologist is expanding, looking for new plots and planting more vines.
When the full-scale war began in 2022, Ihor sent his family away from Kyiv, and joined the territorial defence unit. For two weeks in a row, together with his armed fellow villagers, he was patrolling the area, but at a certain moment he realised that he was hardly effective as a combatant and got back to work.
The challenges and problems were plenty. It was time to bottle the wines. Ihor called the printing house that used to print their labels, and the answer was: sorry, we are under constant missile attacks; it‘s impossible to work, we are sitting in bomb shelters. The Biologist team decided to create their own labels using construction tape. It was a time-consuming process, but they came out quite crafty and consumers liked them, so the collection of Biologist wines produced in 2022 still sports these labels.
Another challenge was to find the team to work in the vineyards. Ihor invited some people from his village, some relatives and friends, and volunteers from Kyiv. At one point there were 15 of them living in his family house in Lisnyky. It was like a small kibbutz: they cultivated the vineyards together, cooked together, ate together, laughed and cried together.
Working in the vineyards had a therapeutic effect: fresh air, cultivating the land, watching the vines grow distracted people from the terrible news. “We are located south of Kyiv, so, thank God, our winery and vineyards were not damaged. The situation north of the capital was much worse, some fellow winemakers have suffered,” comments Ihor. He is glad that he currently has a great team, which is pure luck because many people are at the front or left the country.
How is their business doing?
“War is a terrible disaster. But we decided not to give up and look for new opportunities to grow. We support our team, find new channels for domestic sales, pay taxes, and donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Before the war, we did not export our wines. Since last year, however, we have been exporting to Poland, the Baltic countries, and Sweden, and have recently started selling to Japan,” says the winemaker.
Ihor is facing the future with a share of bitterness – and good humour too: “Making plans, especially in times of war, is making God laugh. We have a strategy, but we don’t make plans. We are working hard, investing in expanding our production and growing exports. We are planting new vineyards around Kyiv – our goal is 10 hectares. Odesa region, where we grow our grapes too, is getting hotter every year. So we are moving north. It‘s a general trend, and not only in Ukraine.”
Biologist Winery is one of 17 producers on the Wines of Ukraine stand at ProWein 2024 (March 10-12, Dusseldorf, Germany). As well as the big winemaking companies and major players such as SHABO, Chateau Chizay, Koblevo and Bolgrad, the Ukrainian national stand (13H52) will present smaller craft wineries from various parts of the country. These include Biologist Winery (Kyiv region), Sass K Winery (Zakarpattia) and Beykush Winery (Mykolaiv).
Wines of Ukraine will also present 11 producers at the London Wine Fair, May 20-22, Olympia, London, W14 8UX, England. Stand: D26.
Victoria Makarova is a Ukrainian wine expert and journalist, and representative for Wines of Ukraine. Since April 2022, Victoria has been living in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
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