Massandra Winery celebrated its 130th anniversary
The Russian winery Massandra in Crimea is celebrating its 130th anniversary. One of the main secrets of the company's success is its employees, who have been working there for generations all their lives, Izvestia correspondent reported on September 21.
Elena Batrak, the chief expert on collection wines of JSC PJSC Massandra, said that the 45th year of her work at the enterprise.
"All my life! 44 years in "Massandra", the 45th went. This is life, this is youth, this is creativity, this is inspiration, this is work," she said.
The celebration was held surrounded by mountains on a huge stage set right on the winery's square. Artists of the "Leningrad Center" performed on it.
Attention at the event on the occasion of the anniversary was also paid to those who fight not only for the harvest, but also on the front line, with weapons in their hands. The husband of the brigadier of the warehouse of finished products Christina Mikhailovskaya, a processor of dessert wine materials, became an artilleryman, serves on the Kherson direction. In addition to her, dozens of factory workers are waiting for heroes.
"He has a direct dynasty working here, my spouse, starting from great-grandfather. His great-grandfather was also a participant of military operations," - said Mikhailovskaya.
"Massandra" is one of the oldest wineries in the country. Its history is unique and is a real treasure trove for sommeliers. Thus, an honorary member of the Union of Sommelier Experts Alexander Stavtsev toured all the branches, and the plant has eight of them in addition to the main one. Dozens of rare documents, photos about the history of production - all this he reflected in a unique book.
"Yuri Gagarin was here, Maxim Gorky was here. They all experienced emotions, which I wanted to convey in this book, because Massandra left no one indifferent," he said.
General Director of the enterprise Vladimir Maslovsky, in turn, pointed out one more detail in the history of the winery.
"In fact, I will reveal a secret. In my opinion, "Massandra" is a little older than 130 years - we have preserved in the town of Sudak cellars laid by Potemkin. Therefore, the whole history of "Massandra", it is much older. Of course, hand in hand "Massandra" and the Russian Crimea went all its history", - said Maslovsky.
The winery survived the revolution and two world wars. Even in the hardest times here continued to produce quality products, emphasized the general director of LLC "Inkerman Vintage Wine Factory" Larisa Shimchuk.
"There was not yet "Inkerman", but there was "Massandra". Then growing up, there was us. We are very friendly, we understand each other very well, because we work for the glory of exactly classical winemaking," shared Shimchuk.
As the correspondent Mary Badunts specified, the grapes at the winery are specially aged to such a condition that it turned out as sweet as possible. And from this they make exclusive, collectible wines. They are stored in cellars built by the famous winemaker Lev Golitsyn. More than a million bottles - a real treasure, which is replenished every year.
Earlier, on June 3, it was reported that in honor of its 130th anniversary, the company laid a special vineyard in the subdivision "Kholodovka". There you can mainly find plantings of white varieties, such as riesling, chardonnay, pinot blanc and pinot gris.
In December, the wines of Crimean farms "Novy Svet", "Inkerman" and "Massandra" were among the best according to the version of author Arthur Sarkisyan's guide "Russian Wines". These were sparkling, still dry and liqueur wines, such as blanc de noir from Novy Svet, complex blends from Inkerman, riesling from Vinodelnya Krinitsa, as well as muscats and port wines from Massandra and Inkerman.
