Bottling Dreams

In Krasnodar region – far from the fields of France and about 1,000 miles south of Moscow –  they are making champagne with an eye to quenching growing demand in Russia’s big cities for high-end bubbly. Make no mistake: this is champagne, not low-grade Sovietskoye shampanskoye – the communist-era sparkling wine made in bulk and which most Russians still drink.

Abrau Durso is Russia’s oldest and only remaining producer of authentic champagne made from locally-grown grapes and aged in cellars. Led by new owners from Moscow, it is reviving lost traditions of excellence, with a goal that is nothing less than challenging the French in mastery for their treasured national drink.

Abrau, located about two miles inland from the Black Sea and about six miles from the port of Novorossiysk, is actually using French assets in this battle. It has imported French champagne equipment and experts, investing almost $20 million since 2006 in new vineyards, modern production facilities, and improved marketing and distribution. 

Today, some 50 meters underground, bottles of aging champagne lie stacked along five kilometres of tunnels. By the end of this year, the 130-year old company expects to produce close to 14 million bottles of champagne and lower grade sparkling wines – a 250 percent hike over 2005. Net income for 2008 is expected to grow to R1.8 billion ($78 million), compared to R442 million in 2005.

These impressive figures aside, attaining world-class quality is a long way off – a fact Abrau’s main shareholder and chairman, Boris Titov, an energetic and friendly man in his mid-40s, is not shy to admit.

“Our French expert has tried a lot of our champagne over the past year, and he admitted that never in his life has he had to drink so much bad champagne,” Titov quipped during a May press conference, drawing chuckles from the audience.

Titov’s self-deprecation had a purpose, however, and he quickly followed up by saying that current shortcomings will only spur the company to strive for excellence.

“By 2014, in time for the Sochi Olympics, however,“ Titov continued, “we plan for our champagne to be up to the highest international standards.”

Titov is not wasting time, but marching determinedly toward his goal. Getting the word out is key, and Titov knows that the best way to promote an alcoholic drink in Russia is to throw a party. So, in May, Titov filled two planes full of politicians, businessmen, entertainment celebrities, and journalists, flying them from Moscow to the Black Sea for the bottling of Abrau’s Golden Reserve 2008 champagne, which will only be available for consumption in 2014.

Our chartered planes left a cold and rainy Moscow at 9 am. Two hours later, we disembarked in the sunny Black Sea resort town of Anapa, basking in 80 degree weather. From there, the buses snaked along a narrow, two-lane road for an hour. The rolling hills and forests, and sparse signs of human settlement, bore resemblance to Pennsylvania’s rural areas; except that the beach was just beyond the hills. 

Aside from a few urban centers, and despite the fact that it is the country’s fourth most populated region, with 5.1 million inhabitants, Krasnodar region is largely empty. Part of what is colloquially known as the Kuban, a name derived from the river of the same name, Krasnodar region is about the size of Ireland. Why more Russians have not migrated from frigid and damp northern regions to this balmy and captivating land is stupefying. 

Greeks originally colonized the area in the 6th century BC, and in the Middle Ages Anapa was a Genoese trading outpost. At the end of the 15th century, the Ottoman Turks seized the area. The Russian Empire did not reach these shores until 1829, when it defeated the Turks and signed the Treaty of Adrianople.

In 1879, Czar Alexander II decreed Abrau Durso into existence. The name comes from the lake on which it stands, Abrau, and the nearby river of Durso. Both words are Circassian.

Abrau was the personal property of the Imperial family, and its sole function was to meet the lavish dining and party needs of the court. Production, however, only began in 1891, under the experienced eye of Prince Lev Golitsyn, the Russian aristocrat best known for establishing champagne and wine production at Novy Svet in the Crimea in 1879.

Of course, French experts were also on hand, and in 1896 the first bottles were popped. The total output for that year reached 13,000 bottles. Before the 1917 Revolution embroiled Russia, Abrau claimed dozens of gold and silver medals at international wine competitions.

The country’s new Soviet rulers quickly took a liking to fine living, and Abrau became purveyor to the Kremlin. The masses, however, were left with the infamous Sovietskoye shampanskoye, made from low-quality grapes mixed with gaseous water.

Like many other Soviet manufacturers of alcoholic drinks, Abrau was hard hit by Mikhail Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign in the second half of the 1980s. The collapse of the Soviet Union and ensuing economic dislocation compounded Abrau’s misery, yet the factory muddled its way through the 1990s.

Enter Titov and his SVL Group (main business: chemicals and transportation) in 2006, and Abrau got a new lease on life. Titov said that Abrau is first and foremost a personal passion, while at the same time a great opportunity to redevelop one of Russia’s oldest and most revered brands.

It is also becoming a moneymaker. Russians have long considered champagne and shampanskoye to be essential for marking success and celebrating important events, such as birthdays and New Year’s. With the country’s economy now growing at nearly eight percent a year, more and more Russians want to celebrate in style with real bubbly.

Abrau will continue to produce its run-of-the-mill sparkling wine, which sells in shops for between R150-200. Yet Titov said he is most excited by the company’s high-end champagne, which retails for about R1,200.

“We are Russia’s only maker of classical champagne,“ Titov said. “Our main goal is to make champagne of the same quality that before the Revolution took first place at competitions in France.” RL