The last visit on my Black Sea Coast
itinerary was something a little bit different. Abrau-Durso is
Russia’s most famous sparkling wine producer, and this recently
expanded winery looks like a grand Champagne house transplanted to
Russia. I visited on a bright September morning with deputy director
Andrey Koboyan and one of the winemaking team, Armen
Danielyan.
Andrey Koboyan
Armen Danielyan
The winery is located on the shores of
lake Abrau, a short distance west of Novorossiysk on Russia’s
black sea coast, in the Krasnodar Krai region. It dates back to 1870
when it was founded with a view to providing wine for the Tsar. In
1896, Prince Lev Golitsyn—an important figure in Russian
wine—brought in a team of French specialists to help make
sparkling wine, and by the turn of the 20th century the newly dug
underground tunnels were full of the Russian version of Champagne.
The French assistance continued until the revolution in 1917, but
the Russians they had trained carried on making sparkling wine,
which until very recently was known as Sovetskoye Shampanskoye.
Now the winery is organized as the State
Unitary Enterprise Abrau Durso, with shares held jointly by the
government and a group of companies headed by successful businessman
Boris Titov (since 2006, with a 58% share).
Recently Titov has been looking to expand
by raising capital to increase production (the company floated on
the stock exchange in April 2012), and also to develop a luxury
hotel/spa facility on the site. Currently there is a very attractive
40 room luxury hotel near the winery, but this is not considered big
enough.
Dug into the hills behind the winery are
some 5.5 km of tunnels, with the potential for storing 10 million
bottles. There’s an interesting mechanical system running through
the tunnels for transporting bottles in metal cradles. This dates
back to the 1950s.
This is quite a tourist draw: 150 000
visitors come here annually. The entry fee is 500 Roubles, which
works out at about 12 Euros. Production currently stands at 18
million bottles, with about 15% being made by the traditional
method, the remainder by transfer (Charmat). The company owns 560
hectares of vineyards. Only a few years ago production was less than
half this level: this is a project that has grown fast. The goal is
to reach 30 million bottles.
The product range consists of a number of
tiers. The cheapest wines have a 16 day short second fermentation in
pressure tanks. The next tier, what was until recently called
Sovetskoye Shampanskoye, spends at least 26 days in the pressure
tanks. For these two tiers, a fifth to a third is Russian wine and
the balance is imported wine from South Africa, Spain, Croatia or
Italy.
The rest of the range is traditional
method Champagne-like wine. Some imported wine is still used, but
higher up in the range it is all Russian. The top of the tree is the
Imperial group of three wines, which is where Herve Jestin helps as
a consultant.
THE
WINES
Note that when a vintage is indicated on
the bottle, this is the date of tirage, not the date of harvest.
I’ve tried to make this clear in my notes.
Abrau Durso Brut NV Made by Charmat method, and has some South African Colombard in
it. Crisp, fruity and lively. Nice bright, round fruit here. Clean
and pure. 85/100
Abrau Durso Gold Label Premium Brut
2005 (labelled 2006, which is the tirage) Some sweet oxidative notes on the nose. A bit toasty. Tight,
crisp and herby on the palate with some toasty notes. A crisp style
with nice rich flavours. 86/100
Abrau Durso Premium Rosé2008 (tirage date, not vintage) Salmon pink colour. Very attractive and nicely toasty with crisp
herbal notes and a hint of cherry fruit. 85/100
Abrau Durso Imperial Collection Cuvée
L’Art Nouveau Brut 2008 (2009 tirage) Taut and quite herby with a green streak to the fresh citrus
fruit. Fresh and quite persistent. 82/100
Abrau Durso Imperial Collection
Vintage 2007 (2008 tirage) Tight and fresh with nice fruit and lively citrus notes. Notes
of apple and pear, showing good freshness. 87/100
Abrau Durso Imperial Collection Cuvée
Rosé
2008 (2009 tirage) Appley and oxidative. Nice acidity but there’s too much
oxidative character here.
Abrau Durso Premium Rouge 2008 (tirage
date) Cabernet Sauvignon. Very attractive. Sweet, berryish with some
grip. Lovely red berry and blackberry jam character. Stylish. 88/100