Prince Lev Sergeyevich Golitsyn (russian: Лев Сергеевич Голицын; 24 August 1845 – 26 December 1915) was a Russian winemaker of the 1890s. He established the production of

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...

s in Russia.

Biography

Lev Sergeyevich was born into the aristocratic House of Golitsyn. After graduating from the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in 1862, between 1864 and 1867 he served as a clerical officer at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The enti ...

. In 1872 he received a second degree, in law, from the

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, and from 1872 to 1874 studied in Germany. Later in the 1870s he participated in an archaeological expedition in Vladimir Directorate that discovered several

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with ...

sites. In recognition for this work, in 1877 Golitsyn was elected as a corresponding member of the . In 1878 Golitsyn bought a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals ...

near Sudak in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

. There he started cultivating grapes, eventually growing up to 600 varieties. His vineyards gradually spread across Crimea into the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

. In the 1880s he established the production of sparkling wines using the classical French technology of direct fermentation in bottles. He also set up the mass production of table, liqueur, and dessert wines, such as white and pink

nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...

and

port wine Port wine (also known as vinho do Porto, , or simply port) is a Portuguese wine, Portuguese fortified wine produced in the Douro, Douro Valley of Norte, Portugal, northern Portugal. It is typically a sweetness of wine, sweet red wine, often ...

s. In Crimea, Golitsyn became an avid collector of 17th–20th century wines, eventually accumulating around 50,000 bottles. Golitsyn's winemaking career peaked in the 1890s, when he was a leading Russian winemaker. By 1912 his fortune declined, and he donated a large part of his lands and vineyards to

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

aiming to preserve them as part of the Imperial estates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Golitsyn, Lev 1845 births 1915 deaths Russian winemakers Archaeologists from the Russian Empire Lev Russian princes