A wine culture existed as early as the 4th century BC on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula, from which time wine presses and amphorae have been found. In the northern part, however, it developed much later from the 11th century onwards through monks. In the Middle Ages, the Genoese, who owned Sudak at the time, traded Crimean wines throughout Europe. Under Catherine II. (1729-1796), the Crimean peninsula became part of the Russian Empire in 1783. Her favourite Grigory Alexandrovich Potyomkin (1739-1791) made it arable and also promoted viticulture. The count imported vines from Italy, Spain and France, where the climate was very similar to that in the Crimea. Especially the soil around the town of Sudak was very fertile. Here lies the aptly named Solnechnaya Dolina (Sun Valley) with 300 days of sunshine a year and a large winery of the same name. Near Yalta, Count Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856) had vineyards planted and a large winery built in 1820. He then founded the Magarach Wine Institute nearby in 1828.
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Dominik Trick
Technischer Lehrer, staatl. geprüfter Sommelier, Hotelfachschule Heidelberg