Kiko Sun Jun 25, 2023 10:38 pm
Russian winemakers are completely switching to domestic components: who will benefit from this by Sergey Vinnik (Republic of Crimea) , Tatyana Pavlovskaya (Krasnodar Territory) , Evgeny Rakul (Rostov Region) for Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 06.25.2023.
Since June 25, Russia has banned the use of imported concentrated grape must in the manufacture of wine to increase its sugar content. Are the winemakers ready for this, how the new rule will affect the price and quality of their products, correspondents of Rossiyskaya Gazeta found out.
It's more reliable
“We have been trying to get rid of imported bulk for a long time,” recalled Alexei Sklyarov, chairman of the Council of Small Winemakers of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia, owner of a private winery (Rostov Region)".
Today, many producers depend on the vacuum must of the concentrate, the general director of one of the wineries in the Krasnodar Territory noted in a conversation with RG. “In our market, up to 50 percent of wines are semi-sweet, where the percentage of concentrated vacuum must is used,” the expert says. “The import ban allows domestic producers to increase its production. In fact, any large winery, with special installations, is capable of producing vacuum must”.
Kuban, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Processing Industry of the region Fyodor Dereka, does not experience any problems with the production of wines with the addition of concentrated grape juice.
“The share of such wines (semi-dry, semi-sweet) in the production volume of large producers is from 30 to 70 percent,” the minister stated. “Some enterprises have acquired installations for the production of vacuum must. New production facilities have also been organized in the region. does not change, so the ban on the use of imported concentrated grape must does not affect our enterprises. If we have our own, why do we need imported?".
Very sweet berries
And in the Crimea, there is no need to artificially influence the sugar content in wine. The grapes on the peninsula ripen naturally. "And gaining a high sugar content," explains winemaker Nikolai Dontsov.
For dry wines and champagnes, he noted, sugar at the time of picking berries should be at the level of 17-19 percent, and for dessert wines - above 26 percent. In different regions of the peninsula, these indicators are not achieved simultaneously. In the Sun Valley - the hottest and driest place in Crimea, where the climate is close to desert - the berry is gaining 16-18 percent of sugar in early September. In the north of the peninsula - by the end of this month or even in October. But in any case, technical grape varieties gain high sugar content without additional catalysts throughout the entire harvest season.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Crimea, over the past nine years, the gross grape harvest on the peninsula has almost doubled - up to 130.9 thousand tons. The collection of wine berries is growing thanks to the annual laying of new vineyards - from 900 to 1.5 thousand hectares.
According to the head of the winery Nikolai Molchanov (Rostov region), the ban on bulk will have a positive impact on those producers who make wine exclusively from their own grapes. “If only because those who add imported must have to spend some time rebuilding supplies, and we both sold our wine and sell it, and we are increasing volumes,” he explained.
Nikolai Molchanov is also confident that the new rules will benefit the entire industry. Already, many producers who made cheap semi-sweet wines from balk have begun to plant more of their own vineyards. Especially in Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory and in the Crimea.
It will not be worse
Nevertheless, producers of semi-sweet cheap wine (up to 300 rubles per bottle or 1 liter) are now waiting. How will wort prices change? These sentiments were told to RG by the general director of a wine-making enterprise in the Krasnodar Territory.
But it looks like their worries are unfounded, judging by what Kuban minister Fyodor Dereka told us: "Both our own and imported products cost the same, so nothing will change." That is why, according to the minister, selling prices for wine should not grow either. “At the same time, I want to note,” he added, “Russian concentrated grape juice is produced using the most modern technologies. Therefore, the quality of wine produced from it will not change.”
What kind of beam is this?
Grape must is an agricultural wine product obtained exclusively from fresh grapes spontaneously or using physical methods of crushing, destemming, draining, pressing.
The must is fresh, concentrated, canned and concentrated rectified. It is a syrup of glucose and fructose: a homogeneous viscous sweet and sour liquid, reminiscent of bee honey in color. Sometimes it happens in a thick candied form with a pleasant grape-fruity aroma and taste.
Often in everyday life winemakers use the word bulk (from the English bulk - bulk, bulk). This is wine material that is transported in tanks. Producers who do not have their own vineyards use this raw material to make wine and other alcoholic beverages. And they sell them in bottles. Sometimes balk is also added to wine produced in their own vineyards, so as not to depend on seasonal grape harvests.
https://rg.ru/2023/06/25/reg-ufo/rossijskie-vinodely-polnostiu-perehodiat-na-otechestvennye-komponenty-kto-vyigraet-ot-etogo.html