Putin's ‘wine patriotism' leaves Russian vodka on the rocks as bubbly flows freely
There is no record of what China's President Xi Jinping or his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made of the wines, but their selection was not accidental. In a meeting with Mikhail Razvozhayev, the governor of the biggest Crimean city, Sevastopol, President Vladimir Putin emphasised that 'only Russian wines' had been served at the event marking the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Wine production has jumped by a quarter since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), an intergovernmental body that monitors global standards for wine production. Wine is a small sector of the Russian economy, but the business forms part of a broader patriotic effort employed by Putin to push for economic self-sufficiency as Moscow tries to both outwit Western sanctions and revive a flagging economy.
Production is at its highest in a decade with over a third of the Russian wine coming from the Krasnodar region on the Black Sea. Domestic consumption has also increased, reaching 8.1 million hectolitres, or more than 1 billion bottles, in 2024.
In contrast, production of vodka, the drink most associated with Russia, dropped 26.3 per cent to 7.6 million hectolitres last year, the lowest level in almost a decade, reported RBC, one of Russia's largest private media groups – still enough for every Russian in the country, including children, to each drink seven bottles annually.
But the growth in sales of home-grown wine is double-edged for Moscow. It also reflects the impact of sanctions which are keeping many Western wines off supermarket shelves and restaurant menus. Last year, Russia increased tariffs on wines from so-called unfriendly countries – a list drawn up in 2021 that includes the US and some of Europe's top wine producers – doubling existing duties to 25 per cent.
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