Last year my friends and I went fishing with an overnight stay. The weather was, to put it mildly, not very good – cold and windy. After sunset, we gathered in a tent and decided to warm up a bit. Someone took out a bottle of Crimean wine.
After the second glass, the oldest man from our company, Ivan Petrovich, lit a cigarette and said in a voice full of nostalgia: “Oh, now the wine is not the same … In Soviet times, a quality product was produced in the Crimea, and not this …” Then came the memories.
The story was sent by my subscriber Daniel.
Muscat White Red Stone
“Remember the white Muscat of the Red Stone? It was one of the most famous Crimean wines. Moreover, they drank it not only in the Union, but also outside it, ”Ivan Petrovich smiled bitterly and finished the contents of his mug.
“Yes, yes,” one of ours replied. “They say that in the 60s, a 200-liter barrel of Muscat was sent to the Queen of Great Britain every year.” “It’s not bad to be a queen like that,” a voice was heard from the far corner of the tent.
“I bought this wine for 6 rubles 70 kopecks. But money was not a pity. Just remember this sweet rich aroma and nutmeg-fruity taste with a slight bitterness, and what an aftertaste it was after! Once you finish drinking a bottle, you can still feel the wine in your mouth for an hour. Yes, and in a glass it looked good – as if gold shimmered with amber.
An interesting fact: White Muscat of the Red Stone began to be produced almost immediately after the liberation of the Crimea from the Germans in 1944.
Muscat, by the way, is still on sale, however, experts say that its quality has become lower than it was in Soviet times.
Sherry Crimean
“Hey, guys,” the voice of the speaker sounded somehow suspiciously cheerful. Probably, the memories of the sunny peninsula inspired him, well, or his products. “Did anyone drink Crimean sherry?”
“We drank, we know,” Ivan Petrovich, apparently, often visited the Crimea in Soviet times. “Of course, they didn’t put it on the table of the English queen, and it cost less – 3 rubles. I really liked its color, dark golden, somewhat reminiscent of honey. And the smell … oak-grape. Haven’t seen this anywhere else.
The sherry label with a castle in the background was hard to confuse with other wine brands.
When you drink it in your mouth, it has a pleasant taste of herbs, oak and Black Sea fruits. The aftertaste is tobacco-sweet. It was possible to go to the Crimea purely for Sherry, and it was not a pity to spend money on the road. The label is also impressive. You can’t mess with anything.”
An interesting fact: the cellars, where the wines of the Simferopol Experimental Winery No. 1, where Sherry Krymsky was produced, were aged in Soviet times, were previously used by the military to store gunpowder.
Port wine red Livadia
I also decided to have my say: “I personally liked Livadia port wine among Crimean wines. It was inexpensive – 2 rubles 85 kopecks. When we rested in Yalta in the 80s, I tried a lot of locally produced alcohol. Livadia impressed me the most.”
“What does she even taste like?” Ivan Petrovich intervened. “In the old days, I just never got to port wine.”
Nostalgia about the rest in Yalta…
“Sweet, cherry gives strongly. And yes, the smell is right. The aftertaste is long and pleasant. It’s actually pretty strong for a wine. Livadia, even in Soviet times, was aged in barrels for several years before being sent for sale. It looks like a classic – dark red, even closer to pomegranate.
Interesting fact: Livadia was the favorite port wine of Emperor Nicholas II.
Madera Crimean
Everyone clearly liked discussing the Soviet wines of the sunny Crimea. This made it possible for a while to forget that the rain was pounding on the thin tarpaulin, and the wind was rocking the tent. New memories were not long in coming.
“When I went to Sevastopol in the late 70s, I tried Crimean Madera. She has a chic smell – she gave caramel. It is light itself, and in the glass it shimmers with gold.
It cost at that time 3 rubles 20 kopecks. Strong, under 20 degrees, but the taste is something … I still remember, a nut with a mixture of fruits.
From the label of Madera of Soviet times, it seems that it smells like the aroma of Crimea and distant wanderings
Locals all advised me to drink it and smoke good tobacco at the same time. Good advice. The taste of Madeira really improved after that.
An interesting fact: Madeira in the Crimea began to be made at the end of the XNUMXth century.
Cabernet Kaczynski
“I don’t know about you guys, but I liked Cabernet Kachinsky from Crimean wines. It tastes like berries,” someone’s voice rang out again.
“It cost 2 rubles 70 kopecks. Well, at least in Inkerman. The color is like a ruby, but how it smelled! A mixture of berries, tobacco and pepper. A bit dry, but there was something in him that cannot be described in words, as they say.
An interesting fact: Cabernet Kachinsky was the first brand that the Inkerman Vintage Wine Factory launched into production after its foundation.
You won’t find this wine in the store anymore.
We discussed the Crimean wines of the times of the Union for a long time. This allowed me to warm up a little and plunge my thoughts into a happy past. And what brands of wine from the USSR period do you remember?