The glamour of the French wines seems to have a life of its own. Few people know what they taste like, but everyone’s mouth starts watering as soon as they are mentioned. For this the primary credit belongs to Dumas pere whose heroes spent their time when not fighting, intriguing, or making love, delighting in wines.
Hence, no wonder that an exhibition-tasting French wines organized and held in Kyiv for the first time by the Economy section of the French Embassy, the French Center for Foreign Trade, and SOPECSA Company attracted great attention from Ukrainian merchandisers, producers, restaurateurs, and journalists.
Having seen the variety of sparkling beverages exposed in Ukrainian House one’s eyes stubbornly refused to focus on a single brand. Yet, at the first table a gallant monsieur invited me to have a try of the red potion. Of course, there was much temptation to make certain whether there was a reason for Porthos to drain a tavern wine cellar during an emergency stop on his way to London. And only the thought that if I accept such offers I could fall down and not make it to the final 22nd table stopped me.
“Don’t worry about that,” the monsieur assured me. “You shouldn’t swallow the wine but spit it out.”
It was beyond me to commit such a mockery to my organism, and I decided to limit myself to collecting information.
However, it seemed like the guests did not adhere to the tasting canons evaluating the represented beverages in our Ukrainian way.
As it turned out, almost all the French vintners had never exhibited their production in Ukraine, and we do not have own representatives or distributors here. It was their first step into the Ukrainian market.
Another reason for having such an exhibition here was mentioned by Jacques Duval, a great gourmet of French champagne and Commercial Attache of the French Embassy. He is convinced that there are no good wines in Ukraine, and this situation should be changed.
Volodymyr Malyshev, General Director of Ampelos-Kyiv shared his opinion. Lack of domestic raw materials of good quality caused by the criminal cutting down of vineyards during the memorable period of combating alcoholism put the Yevpatoriya winery belonging to his firm on the verge of bankruptcy. Currently, our market is flooded by cheap low quality wines.
What attracts the French winemakers to Ukraine where this industry is already well developed? According to Sebastian Petito, Capeco International representative, Ukraine can already be deemed a civilized European country. “If offered to make a trip to Russia, I would reject it immediately,” he confessed. Apparently, such an attitude can be ascribed to our neighbor’s financial and political crisis.
It is difficult to say when the French wines will be on store shelves as common as those from Moldova or Bulgaria. Many reasons were mentioned for this situation, but the most non-trivial turned out to be Frederik Moren representing Les caves du sieur d’arques. “I have no crystal ball,” he said. Obviously, making predictions given Ukraine’s current economic instability is hopeless.
After everything they had seen and heard, many visitors could agree with the ancient philosopher: now I know that I know nothing. At least about French wines.







