Said to be introduced by the Romans and developed by the Russians, Uzbekistan’s all but forgotten wine industry is seeing a renewed interest in it as the Central Asian republic slowly re-discovers indigenous Uzbek varietals like the robust Saperavi and the fruity Rkatsiteli among others.
By Raul Dias
“Samarkand, Bukhara, and other magnificent cities are places decorated with gardens and vineyards!” Even Marco Polo seems to concur with me as I traverse the largest and richest republic in Central Asia—Uzbekistan. As my train from the capital Tashkent en route to the historic city of Samarkand passes through the lush, vineyard-infested countryside (currently Uzbek vineyards total 127,000 hectares), I’m reminded of what the 13th-century Venetian explorer had to say about this part of the world. All this, as I try to put a lid on my wide-eyed surprise. I mean, who has ever heard of the words “Uzbekistan” and “wine” strung together in the same sentence, right?
History in a Bottle!
While it may have very well been the Romans who probably introduced wine in Uzbekistan thanks to the Silk Road, it was Russian settlers who first commercialised winemaking in Uzbekistan in the 1860s. In fact, I later learn that a few wines even won prizes at international competitions in Paris and Antwerp in that era.
As a result of this, the number of wineries in Uzbekistan continued to grow as it amalgamated into the Soviet Union in 1924. Sweeter, indigenous varietals like Bayan Shirei and Kuldginskii led many Uzbek vintners to specialise in dessert and semisweet wines like the once-renowned Gulyakandozes, Shirins, Aleatikos, and Farkhods.
However, lack of both innovation and quality in Uzbekistan’s wine industry caused it to stagnate in the later part of the 20th century, when the low-priced, fortified wines were consumed in only in the Soviet Union and rarely ever exported. The final nail in the coffin came about during Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1985-88 campaign to combat alcoholism that all but decimated Uzbekistan’s already limping wine industry.
Through it all
And though the casualties may have been several, one winery that survived through it all is the Samarkand-based Khovrenko Winery that’s been in continuous business since 1868 after it was founded by a Russian merchant named Dmitriy Filatov. I find myself in its well-appointed winemaking museum in Samarkand’s historic Jewish quarter, after getting lost a number of times thanks to a faulty directions’ app. I’m here for the one-hour wine tour that sets me back by 50,000 Som (around Rs. 1,000).
As I’m the only guest, my guide Abdulaziz Yoʻldoshev lavishes all his attention on me as he takes me through the mahagony-lined main hall’s exhibits. “It was only in 1927 that true fame came to the winery when Russian scientist, wine-maker and chemist Michael Khovrenko joined Khovrenko, eventually buying it off from the earlier owners,” Yoʻldoshev lets me know. “It was he who designed the technical methods for producing such vintage wines as Gulyakandoz, Shirin and Liquor Kaberne—three of our most successful ones.”
I am then led to the winery’s 100-year-old cellar called the ‘library’. Here, narrow passageways run among the shelves, on which—much like books—one by one, bottles of wine covered with a thick coat of dust are arranged. It is here that I enjoy my sampling of everything from the 10-year-aged, amber-hued Filatov cognac to the cloyingly sweet, but yummy USSR-style Kargof dessert wine that’s a blend of Georgian and Cabernet grape varietals.
The Others…
But as I was soon to learn, while making my way back to Tashkent a few days later, it’s not just the aromatic and sweet Soviet period-style wines that are in demand today. On the road to Ferghana, some 100km away from Tashkent, at an altitude of 1,600 meters, the Hamkor Vineyard at Parkent is known to craft wines that have a distinct European profile. Dedicated for the greatest part to exports, the vineyard with an unmistakable Francophile hangover (pun unintended!) created brands like Champs Elysées, Joséphine, Louvre and Monte Cristo that I’m told are wildly popular in countries like Japan, China and neighbouring Kazakhstan.
Started in 1993, the Tashkent-based Mehnat Group crafts dry wines made with both traditional French grape varietals like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and local Uzbek ones like Saperavi and Hindogni for the red wines, with Riesling and Rkatsiteli for the whites. It currently exports 20% of its production to Russia, Kazakhstan and other republics of Central Asia, besides catering to the burgeoning local demand, of course.
Interestingly, during my stay in Uzbekistan, its President Shavkat Mirziyoev announced that as a result of his recent October 2018 trip to France, 60,000 French grape varietal cuttings—including Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Sauvignon—were being delivered to produce high-quality Uzbek vintages. All this, in an attempt to boost Uzbekistan’s moribund wine industry, along with imminent plans for an annual international wine festival—a historic first in any predominantly Muslim country.
Well, the trip’s surprises never seem to end for me, it seems!
TRAVEL LOG
Getting There
There are direct flights from Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar to Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airways. The superfast Afrosiyob train service links Tashkent with Samarkand in under two hours. Travel within Samarkand is very easy with cheap and plentiful transport options available, including taxis, buses and mini vans. The easy-to-procure visa to visit Uzbekistan can be obtained online and takes just two working days to process for a fee of US $20.
Stay
Samarkand has an excellent selection of hotels to choose from to suit all budgets and tastes. Two such options are the Asia Bukhara Hotel (asiahotels.uz) and the Hotel Registan Plaza (registan-plaza.com) that’s centrally located just off the leafy University Boulevard in the heart of the city.
Tip
* Similar to an Indian naan, the heavier Samarkand non has a darker crust that is coated with a light brushing of oil and thus has a long shelf-life. Best purchased at the city’s huge Siab Bazaar, this kind of bread makes for the perfect souvenir to take on journeys or as gifts for far off friends and family.
* Located close to the Siab Bazaar, the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis is one of Samarkand’s most mysterious and inimitable architectural gems that is a unique ensemble consisting of eleven dazzling shrines covered in bright turquoise porcelain tiles. Each of these shrines is dedicated to a noble man or woman, including Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the 26th January 2019 issue of The Hindu Business Line newspaper's BLink section on page 21 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/takeaway/old-wine-new-high/article26089114.ece)
By Raul Dias
“Samarkand, Bukhara, and other magnificent cities are places decorated with gardens and vineyards!” Even Marco Polo seems to concur with me as I traverse the largest and richest republic in Central Asia—Uzbekistan. As my train from the capital Tashkent en route to the historic city of Samarkand passes through the lush, vineyard-infested countryside (currently Uzbek vineyards total 127,000 hectares), I’m reminded of what the 13th-century Venetian explorer had to say about this part of the world. All this, as I try to put a lid on my wide-eyed surprise. I mean, who has ever heard of the words “Uzbekistan” and “wine” strung together in the same sentence, right?
History in a Bottle!
While it may have very well been the Romans who probably introduced wine in Uzbekistan thanks to the Silk Road, it was Russian settlers who first commercialised winemaking in Uzbekistan in the 1860s. In fact, I later learn that a few wines even won prizes at international competitions in Paris and Antwerp in that era.
As a result of this, the number of wineries in Uzbekistan continued to grow as it amalgamated into the Soviet Union in 1924. Sweeter, indigenous varietals like Bayan Shirei and Kuldginskii led many Uzbek vintners to specialise in dessert and semisweet wines like the once-renowned Gulyakandozes, Shirins, Aleatikos, and Farkhods.
However, lack of both innovation and quality in Uzbekistan’s wine industry caused it to stagnate in the later part of the 20th century, when the low-priced, fortified wines were consumed in only in the Soviet Union and rarely ever exported. The final nail in the coffin came about during Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1985-88 campaign to combat alcoholism that all but decimated Uzbekistan’s already limping wine industry.
Through it all
And though the casualties may have been several, one winery that survived through it all is the Samarkand-based Khovrenko Winery that’s been in continuous business since 1868 after it was founded by a Russian merchant named Dmitriy Filatov. I find myself in its well-appointed winemaking museum in Samarkand’s historic Jewish quarter, after getting lost a number of times thanks to a faulty directions’ app. I’m here for the one-hour wine tour that sets me back by 50,000 Som (around Rs. 1,000).
As I’m the only guest, my guide Abdulaziz Yoʻldoshev lavishes all his attention on me as he takes me through the mahagony-lined main hall’s exhibits. “It was only in 1927 that true fame came to the winery when Russian scientist, wine-maker and chemist Michael Khovrenko joined Khovrenko, eventually buying it off from the earlier owners,” Yoʻldoshev lets me know. “It was he who designed the technical methods for producing such vintage wines as Gulyakandoz, Shirin and Liquor Kaberne—three of our most successful ones.”
I am then led to the winery’s 100-year-old cellar called the ‘library’. Here, narrow passageways run among the shelves, on which—much like books—one by one, bottles of wine covered with a thick coat of dust are arranged. It is here that I enjoy my sampling of everything from the 10-year-aged, amber-hued Filatov cognac to the cloyingly sweet, but yummy USSR-style Kargof dessert wine that’s a blend of Georgian and Cabernet grape varietals.
The Others…
But as I was soon to learn, while making my way back to Tashkent a few days later, it’s not just the aromatic and sweet Soviet period-style wines that are in demand today. On the road to Ferghana, some 100km away from Tashkent, at an altitude of 1,600 meters, the Hamkor Vineyard at Parkent is known to craft wines that have a distinct European profile. Dedicated for the greatest part to exports, the vineyard with an unmistakable Francophile hangover (pun unintended!) created brands like Champs Elysées, Joséphine, Louvre and Monte Cristo that I’m told are wildly popular in countries like Japan, China and neighbouring Kazakhstan.
Started in 1993, the Tashkent-based Mehnat Group crafts dry wines made with both traditional French grape varietals like Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and local Uzbek ones like Saperavi and Hindogni for the red wines, with Riesling and Rkatsiteli for the whites. It currently exports 20% of its production to Russia, Kazakhstan and other republics of Central Asia, besides catering to the burgeoning local demand, of course.
Interestingly, during my stay in Uzbekistan, its President Shavkat Mirziyoev announced that as a result of his recent October 2018 trip to France, 60,000 French grape varietal cuttings—including Chardonnay, Cabernet, and Sauvignon—were being delivered to produce high-quality Uzbek vintages. All this, in an attempt to boost Uzbekistan’s moribund wine industry, along with imminent plans for an annual international wine festival—a historic first in any predominantly Muslim country.
Well, the trip’s surprises never seem to end for me, it seems!
TRAVEL LOG
Getting There
There are direct flights from Mumbai, New Delhi and Amritsar to Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airways. The superfast Afrosiyob train service links Tashkent with Samarkand in under two hours. Travel within Samarkand is very easy with cheap and plentiful transport options available, including taxis, buses and mini vans. The easy-to-procure visa to visit Uzbekistan can be obtained online and takes just two working days to process for a fee of US $20.
Stay
Samarkand has an excellent selection of hotels to choose from to suit all budgets and tastes. Two such options are the Asia Bukhara Hotel (asiahotels.uz) and the Hotel Registan Plaza (registan-plaza.com) that’s centrally located just off the leafy University Boulevard in the heart of the city.
Tip
* Similar to an Indian naan, the heavier Samarkand non has a darker crust that is coated with a light brushing of oil and thus has a long shelf-life. Best purchased at the city’s huge Siab Bazaar, this kind of bread makes for the perfect souvenir to take on journeys or as gifts for far off friends and family.
* Located close to the Siab Bazaar, the Shah-i-Zinda necropolis is one of Samarkand’s most mysterious and inimitable architectural gems that is a unique ensemble consisting of eleven dazzling shrines covered in bright turquoise porcelain tiles. Each of these shrines is dedicated to a noble man or woman, including Kusam ibn Abbas, a cousin of the Prophet Muhammad.
(An edited version of this article first appeared in the 26th January 2019 issue of The Hindu Business Line newspaper's BLink section on page 21 https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/takeaway/old-wine-new-high/article26089114.ece)
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