The cul­ture of wine mak­ing had a long and rich his­tory in the Soviet Union, and its high prof­itabil­ity always ensured an incred­i­ble deal of gov­ern­men­tal sup­port. Due to the cli­mate restric­tions grapes suit­able for wine-making grew in the South­ern areas of the coun­try: Crimea in the Ukraine, the val­ley of Ararat in Arme­nia, as well as the republics of Moldova, Geor­gia and Azerbaijan.

After the war there was a spe­cial devel­op­ment plan of get­ting the coun­try to the top of the world wine lead­ers — which was a suc­cess. By 1969 the USSR was on the fourth place in Europe by the amount of wine pro­duced (right after France, Italy and Spain). The vast ter­ri­to­ries of the country’s South allowed for almost 10% of the total amount of wine pro­duced in the world around that time. This was the Golden Era of the Soviet viti­cul­ture: the assort­ment of wines went up to 700, with about 37 types of sparkling wines and 88 of cognac-type drinks. Many wines were of excel­lent, prize-winning quality.

Sadly, start­ing from the 1970s, the qual­ity was to be sac­ri­ficed for quan­tity: the pri­or­ity to grow was given to higher-yielding sorts of grapes and not the rare, more valu­able ones. The pro­duc­tion lines were grad­u­ally being switched to cheaper, stronger, more generic ranges of wines made from low in sugar but more endur­ing sorts of grape vari­eties. The Pro­hi­bi­tion bylaw of 1985 aim­ing at elim­i­nat­ing the drink­ing prob­lem was the last straw: the grapes and raisins were to be used for mak­ing juices, which led to a even­tual skill short­age and over­all indus­try recession.

Noe­the­less, we have found a few old com­mer­cial posters pic­tur­ing the range of wines of 1950s. Despite the plain bot­tles, this is a neat col­lec­tion of vin­tage posters for you to enjoy. Click on the pic­ture to see it in detail. Let us know how you like it — we value your feed­back. Thanks!

Starting from the right: Soviet Champagne, a trademark for many years and an iconic drink; table Georgian wine (batch 19, whatever that means for the Soviet winemakers); two bottles of whine port.

Start­ing from the right: Soviet Cham­pagne, a trade­mark for many years and an iconic drink; table Geor­gian wine (batch 19, what­ever that means for the Soviet wine­mak­ers); two bot­tles of whine port.


The Wines of the USSR. Unfortunately, year unknown.

The Wines of the USSR. Unfor­tu­nately, year unknown.

Pinot Gris. 1955.

Pinot Gris. 1955.

Aligote grape variety. 1954.

Alig­ote grape vari­ety. 1954.

Madeira. Crimean wine, harvest of 1954.

Madeira. Crimean wine, har­vest of 1954.

Tokaj, Crimean winemaker Massandra, Ukraine.

Tokaj, Crimean wine­maker Mas­san­dra, Ukraine.

Muscat. Was probably a dessert grape variety.

Mus­cat. Was prob­a­bly a dessert grape variety.

Red Muscat.

Red Mus­cat.

The Sun valley, vintage of 1954. No grape variety on the label.

The Sun val­ley, vin­tage of 1954. No grape vari­ety on the label.

Muscat Rose. A favourite wine of my babushka. 1953.

Mus­cat Rose. A favourite wine of my babushka. 1953.

Port. 1954.

Port. 1954.

Bastardo, by Magarach wines - a winemaker still active. Possibly 1933.

Bas­tardo, by Mag­a­rach wines — a wine­maker still active. Pos­si­bly 1933.

The liquors Benedictine (left) and Chartreuse. Were very rare and almost impossible to buy -were probably sold in Moscow only.

The liquors Bene­dic­tine (left) and Char­treuse. Were very rare and almost impos­si­ble to buy –were prob­a­bly sold in Moscow only.

3090413498 0956f1aec3 Viticulture of the Soviet Union in Old Ad Posters

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Related posts:

  1. Soviet Union Admin­is­tra­tive Division
  2. The Book on Tasty and Healthy Foods: Una Dolce Vita, Soviet Style
  3. The Patri­otic Edu­ca­tion in USSR. Part 2  —  Pio­neers, Soviet Boy Scouts
  4. Soviet Cars: His­tory of the Copy-and-Paste Indus­try  —  Part 3 of 3
  5. Soviet Brands: The Scent Of Com­mu­nism. Part 1 of 2

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