Fifteen original events about wine, winemaking and gastronomy tourism took place as part of Odessa Wine Week in Odesa from May 18 to May 23.
The event was attended by 87 speakers and experts from Ukraine (from Odesa to Zakarpattia) and from 18 countries (from Austria to Japan).
The event aroused great interest of wine, tourist, business and media communities – about 3,000 visitors attended the locations of Odessa Wine Week these days.
The program consisted of activities of various directions: industry, cross-industry, educational, mass. In particular, the congress part included more than 40 topics of reports and discussions.
Wine Future Forum
Winemakers, marketers, journalists discussed the prospects of the wine industry.
In particular, the discussion “The Future of Wine: the View of Winemakers” was attended by the winemaker in the fifth generation, chief winemaker of Chateau Changyu Moser XV Lenz Moser (Austria), CEO of SHABO winery Giorgi Iukuridze (Ukraine, Odesa), owner of Vinos de La Luz group of companies Ricardo Nunez (Argentina), the owner of Stakhovsky craft winery, number one tennis player in Ukraine Serhiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine, Zakarpattia), the winemaker, CEO of “PIERA 1899” Piera Martellozzo (Italy).
As a result of the discussion, the winemakers came to such conclusions about the future of wine: wine brands will become more personalized, trends on rose and sparkling wine are likely to continue, online tastings will not be able to replace traditional ones, in Ukraine, the consumption of Ukrainian wine will grow (this will not happen tomorrow, but in the near future), and there will be more wineries in Ukraine.
Participants in the forum also discussed, listened to reports and presentations in the panel “Government, grants, banking programs to support winemaking. Investments in winemaking.” They listened to fellow winemakers from Ukraine and Moldova, marketers and economists, Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine Roman Leschenko. They learned from foreign participants about their experience, investment and government programs to support winemaking in Argentina and Valpolicella region (Italy).
In the panel discussions “Promotion of the brand “Ukrainian wine.” Creating a wine business card of Ukraine,” the experts discussed how to crack the prejudice of Ukrainian consumers to Ukrainian wine. They discussed how to write and talk about wine in a fascinating and professional way. They offered ways to create and promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand. They decided what honest winemaking was – business, creativity or suicide.
In Ukraine, they finally talked about wine journalism – the first discussion panel on this topic was held at the Wine Future Forum. Can Ukrainian wine journalism help winemakers to create and promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand? What do we need for this? We were looking for an answer to this, and the idea of creating the Association/Bureau for the Development of Wine and Brand Journalism arose.
All-Ukrainian tasting contest “Odessa Wine & Spirit Awards”
Some 65 Ukrainian companies (305 wine samples) took part in the competition.
The evaluation used a specialized tasting program of the English company Gustos Life, which uses blockchain technology (eliminates the possibility of changing the ratings of experts during the competition and after its completion).
A feature of the competition examination is a combination of the methodology of sensory analysis and the work of the jury, which consisted of 16 qualified and certified experts. The work of the jury could be watched live.
According to the results of the competition in the category of wines, 30 wines won gold medals, 49 wines won silver medals, while in the category of strong drinks there were seven gold medals and seven silver ones.
The winners of the competition are given the right to place the logo of the award on the product label.
A solemn ceremony of awarding the winners was held with the participation of national and regional media, wine and business communities.
“Best Riedel glass for Odessa Black variety”
This competitive project is aimed at promoting the brand “Ukrainian wine,” the formation of the image of Odessa Black wine as a business card of Ukrainian winemaking in the world – by analogy with Saperavi (Georgia), Feteasca (Moldova), Malbec (Argentina), Carmenere (Chile), Shiraz (Australia) and others.
Some 32 samples of wine from the autochthonous grape variety “Odessa Black” were submitted to the competition.
During the project, the best glass of the world-famous Riedel brand was officially chosen for the local wine “Odessa Black.” From nine variants of glasses, wine experts chose glass № 4 from the Performance collection.
The best wine from the “Odessa Black” variety was Aliberne Reserve Limited Edition, 2017, Gigineishvili Wine House. The Ukrainian native received the first official glass.
Tasting
– Ricardo Nunez, a winemaker with extensive experience, the owner of the Vinos de La Luz group of companies (wineries in Spain, Italy, Argentina, the United States), conducted an author’s tasting of eight wines of his international company.
– Circular tastings were held by 18 wine companies of Ukraine – partners and participants of Odessa Wine Week.
– Tasting on alternative aging under Bousinage technology was conducted by Wood International LLC.
The conference “Innovative tools in viticulture in the context of climate change” brought together leading winegrowers and oenologists from Ukraine, Moldova, France, Italy and the United States. This is a very important professional event for winegrowers, during which experts shared methods of ensuring sustainable viticulture, discussed current issues of the industry and ways to solve them.
OENOVITI International Network 2021 international symposium
The online symposium was attended by 18 scientists from 15 countries on five continents.
Topic: “Challenges in viticulture and oenology: geographical indications of wines and wine tourism, authenticity, innovation.”
OENOVITI International Network (OIN) is a unique international community of researchers in the field of viticulture and winemaking. Ukraine has been represented by the Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies in this prestigious scientific institution since 2015.
“Enogastronomic tourism – a driver for the development of tourist destinations”
Organizer: Department of Culture and Tourism of Odesa City Council.
The conference brought together representatives of tourism, restaurant and wine industries, who discussed enogastronomic tourism as a growing sector of the world tourism market.
They listened to thorough reports on grant projects in the field of enogastronomic tourism, in particular, on the “Wine and Taste Road,” on tools for the promotion of enogastronomic roads and wine tourism operators in Ukraine, on the experience of author’s tours.
Participants in the discussion “Wine and Tourism” talked about wine as a driver of regional development on the example of Bordeaux, watched presentations of wine and enogastronomic locations of Ukraine (Wine Culture Center SHABO, Chateau Chizay, Wine Station, Koblevo wine location) and the United States (Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery).
Participants in the discussion “Odesa cuisine – a tourist magnet of the region” talked about the phenomenon of Odesa cuisine, identified the top five dishes of local Odesa cuisine and offered ideas for the promotion of Odesa cuisine in the world.
The moderators and participants in Odessa Wine Week events were high-class professionals: Yevhenia Nikolaichuk (the co-founder of “Like a Local’s Wine Bar,” a sommelier school teacher, WSET4), Tetiana Ponomarenko (the expert in wine marketing, advertising and PR, an associate professor of journalism, advertising and publishing of Odesa Mechnikov National University, the coordinator of projects on wine journalism), Volodymyr Pechko (the head of UKRSADVINPROM), Vladyslav Blumberg (the president of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Odesa region), Ivan Bachurin (the president of the Association of Sommelier of Ukraine), Anna Sarkisyan (the dean of the Faculty of Wine and Tourism at the Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies), Maksim Urakin (the sales and marketing director at Interfax-Ukraine and the editor of Open4Business), Maria Kalenska (an enogastronomic expert, the ambassador of Odesa cuisine in London).
At Odessa Wine Week, the exposure area was organized with the participation of Ukrainian wine companies and producers of goods, services and technologies related to winemaking.
All the main events of Odessa Wine Week took place in the halls of Premier Hotel Odesa and even in the open air in front of the hotel (the AGSOLCO Ukraine exposition).
For the general public, the highlight of the program was the project “Wine Flight” (“Air Tasting”), a horizontal flight with tasting the top five Ukrainian wines and culinary specialties of Odesa cuisine on board the UIA aircraft.
This is a joint project of Odessa Wine Week and UIA to promote the “Ukrainian wine” brand.
The air tasting was attended by 130 guests, the UIA team, sommelier Hanna-Yevhenia Yanchenko, brand chef of Le grand cafe Bristol Hotel 5* Odesa Stefan Whiteinadan and showman Kolya Serga.
The passengers tasted the best five Ukrainian wines according to the tasting contest “Odessa Wine & Spirit Awards,” which took place the day before as part of Odessa Wine Week:
Cabernet Grande Reserve, 2017 – SHABO;
El Captain Pinot Gris, 2019 – 46 Parallel;
Riesling Rhine, 2016 – Prince Trubetskoi Winery;
Riesling, 2019 – Villa Tinta;
Aliberne Reserve Limited Edition, 2017 – Gigineishvili Wine House.
Wine tasting was combined with the tasting of local dishes of Odesa cuisine.
The Odessa Wine Week program ended with the open-air gastronomic festival “Taki Da, Vkusno” on the territory of the Odesa film studio. The participants in the festival presented to the mass audience of visitors branded culinary products and wine brands.
The Odessa Wine Week project received strong partner support. Odessa Wine Week partners took part in the events, shared their experience and opportunities, and joined the organization of events. The fact that so many leading organizations and companies have joined the event is a very positive sign that gives faith in the good future of Ukrainian winemaking.
The general news partner of Odessa Wine Week is Interfax-Ukraine
Official support
– Odesa Regional State Administration
– Odessa City Council
Authors of the Odessa Wine Week concept:
– Expo-Yug-Service Company
– Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
Odessa Wine Week organizers:
– Expo-Yug-Service Company
– Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
– UKRSADVINPROM association
General partner: SHABO company
Official partner hotel: Premier Hotel Odesa
Innovative partner: AGSOLCO Ukraine
General media partner: Drinks+ communicative media group
Partners:
– JMJ Oak Alternative
– Goodwill Consulting: financial consulting for winemaking business
– Koblevo trademark
– ODESSA champagne of Ukraine trademark
– Wine and Taste Roads project
– Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Odesa region
– Frumushika-Nova family winery
– Aromic-Aromafishki company
Scientific partner: Tairov Institute of Viticulture and Winemaking
Digital partner: Gustos Life
Multimedia partner: Sertsevyna
Information partners:
– Wine Guide of Ukraine project
– Technologies and Innovations media group
– Odesa Life city edition
Printing partner: ALFA PRESS printing house
Wine Flight project partner (Air Tasting): UIA
Information support:
▪ Airport Odessa magazine
▪ Facebook public “Wine of Ukraine”
▪ Open4Business.com.ua
▪ Easy Quizzy
The official photographer of Odessa Wine Week is Arsen Fedosenko
Organizer of the conference “Enogastronomic tourism – a driver for the development of tourist destinations”: the Department of Culture and Tourism of Odesa City Council
Organizers of the project “Best Riedel glass for Odessa Black variety”:
▪ RIEDEL company
▪ MIRS Corporation is the official distributor of RIEDEL in Ukraine
▪ Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
▪ IKPMG Limited, Maria Kalenska
Organizers of the “Wine Flight” project (“Air Tasting”): UIA and Odessa Wine Week.
General project partners: Crédit Agricole Bank and MasterCard.
Project partners: MIRS Corporation – the official distributor of RIEDEL in Ukraine, Bristol Hotel 5* Odesa, Odesa International Airport.
Organizer of the conference “Innovative tools in viticulture in the context of climate change”: UKRSADVINPROM association
Organizers of the OENOVITI International Network symposium:
Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies, Ukraine
OENOVITI International Network, Bordeaux, France
Project details: https://odessawineweek.com/
Project news: https://www.facebook.com/odessawineweek/
