**Silja January-February 2023 shopping, LIGHT

MAKING WINE IN THE
TIME OF WAR
The winemakers of Ukraine are in a difficult position – instead of focusing
on producing unique and tasty wines, the owners of vineyards must protect
themselves and their beloved creations from missiles and tanks. These are
the stories of the Beykush Winery and the Stakhovsky Vineyard.
Beykush is Ukraine’s most valued wine producer
from the Mykolaiv region, right on the coast of the
Black Sea. The winery was founded in 2010 with
an ambition to cultivate grape varieties that had
never been grown in Ukraine before – Pinotage,
Alvarinho, Tempranillo, etc. As a trick of nature, one
year the berries were not harvested as they did
not ripen enough. Later, while inspecting the fields,
the wine master discovered that the grapes had
grown a valuable mold called Botrytis and it was
from this “lost” harvest that Beykush developed its
exceptionally pleasant series of dessert wines called
“Passion”. The Beykush Winery matches varieties
that are not usually combined, thereby breaking all
the golden rules of winemaking. As a result of this,
wines with completely unique flavors are born. For
example: Yafe Nagar – a blend of Chardonnay and
Riesling; Kara Karmen – a Ukraine’s own Amarone.
The Beykush Winery is about 100 km from the front
line of the war. As of now, the region has been hit
with indirect fire and ammunition has fallen on
the plantation, but the wine cellar has not been
damaged. All the wines, that were already bottled,
were transported into a safe place in Wester-
Ukraine.
The owner of the Stakhovsky Vineyard is Sergiy
Stakhovsky, a top tennis player of Ukraine, and
today, at the front, defending his homeland. The
Stakhovsky Vineyard is a small wine producer from
Transcarpathia, aiming at producing high-quality
drinks. Stakhovsky does not focus on the quantity,
but quality of the wines produced there, wanting
to remain a small business. His first experience
with wines was in Bordeaux, where he used to play
in local tennis clubs that where sponsored by the
best wine producers of the region. In 2015, he had
become such a big fan of wine culture that he
rented 20 hectares of land to start producing liquid
gold himself.
This year, Stakhovsky wanted to open a visitor
center in his vineyard, but sadly, the war cancelled
his plans. Making wine at the time of war is not
easy – lack of workforce, materials necessary for
production and low sales have put Stakhovsky as a
winemaker in a difficult position.
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