The Massandra Winery is a

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

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 pop ...

History

The winery was founded by Knyaz Lev Golitsyn in 1894 under the aegis of Czar

Nicholas II 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 Pola ...

. In 1922, in the wake of the

Russian revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

, the winery was nationalized, and it was protected by a law passed in 1936 that offered state protection to its cellars. The guestbook of the winery was stolen by Nazi occupiers during the Second World War. The winery was exempted from the uprooting of Russian vineyards that occurred in the wake of anti-alcohol laws passed by

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

in the 1980s. In the present day, the vast majority of the winery's output is exported to Russia. The ownership of the winery reverted to Russia from the Ukrainian government with the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014. The

enoteca Enoteca (plural: ''Enoteche'') is an Italian word that is derived from the Greek word Οινοθήκη, which literally means "wine repository" (from ''Oeno/Eno-'' Οινός "wine", and ''teca'' Θήκη, "receptacle, case, box"), but it is us ...

of the winery contains about one million bottles of wine.Визитка. Кратко о Массандре
. Торговый дом Массандра (''Business Card. A brief information about Massandra''. Massandra trading company)

Notable visitors

Though initially popular with the Russian aristocracy who spent their summers near Czar Nicholas, the winery has since been visited by several notable personalities including

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...

, and

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

. Gorky wrote a tribute to Massandra that is inscribed in a metal plaque on the wall of the winery. On two occasions wines from the Massandra Winery have been attempted to be given as gifts to Presidents of the United States. In 1987 Gorbachev requested wines from the year of

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

's birth to give to him as Reagan was on a visit to Russia. The bottles were delivered by hand to the Kremlin, but never given to Reagan. In 1994 a bottle from the year of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's birth was given to an American businessman to give to him, yet no further message was heard. In 2015 the President of Russia,

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

, visited the winery with the former Italian prime minister

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

. While touring the winery, Putin and Berlusconi allegedly drank from a 1775 bottle of Jerez de la Frontera worth $90,000. The tour was conducted by the winery's pro-Russian director, Yanina Pavlenko, and charges of embezzlement were subsequently prepared against her by Ukrainian prosecutors.

References

{{Reflist 1894 establishments in Ukraine Wineries of the Soviet Union Wineries of Ukraine Companies based in Crimea Enterprises of Yalta