Ukrainian wines prove a hit with London market

In June, the capital city became “the first on the European continent to open its doors for Ukraine” when it included a Wines of Ukraine stand at London Wine Fair.

The Wines of Ukraine stand at this year’s London Wine Fair has been hailed “a great success” by its organisers.

“To some extent, this was facilitated by the fact that most of the visitors felt the extraordinary nature of the situation,” said Olga Pinevich-Todoriuk, editor-in-chief of Drinks+ magazine, based in Kyiv, Ukraine, which helped to launch the stand.

“On the one hand, everyone wanted to show their sympathy and solidarity to the Ukrainians, and on the other hand, everyone understood that the presented wines were not only of high quality, but also exclusive and limited releases.”

The inaugural stand was a joint venture from Ukrainian media group Drinks+ Communication (of which Drinks+ magazine is a part) and “Ukrsadvinprom”, a co-operative of more than 200 Ukrainian agricultural producers, as well as London Wine Fair organisers, to bring Ukraine’s wines to a London audience.

And the city wholeheartedly embraced Ukrainian wine, not only during the fair, but also at the London Wine Competition 2022, where all sparkling wines from Ukraine producer 46 Parallel won medals.

Cementing London’s commitment to furthering Ukrainian wine’s standing among the trade, the London Wine Fair also played host to the first ever Wine Travel Awards Ceremony (WTA). This new global project dedicated to wine tourism, and based in Ukraine, came to fruition after what its chair mildly called “a difficult time”.

“We were working in the pandemic conditions and simultaneously during the war started by Russia. Less than six months after launching the WTA, Putin began his invasion of Ukraine, where we had our head office and where 70% of the team were located,” said Oleksandra Hryhorieva, head of the Wine Travel Awards.

“We are grateful to the London Wine Fair for supporting Ukrainians and becoming the award exhibition partner this year”.

Despite the incredibly tumultuous time, Grigorieva and her team managed to bring together leading experts in the world of wine tourism from 30 different countries, including Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Germany and the UK.

The accompanying walk-around tasting featured a buffet of Ukrainian cuisine by national chef and TV presenter Yurii Kovryzhenko.