Sergiy Klimov, one of the co-owners of two Kyiv wine bars that serve only Ukrainian wine, says they are hostages to their own concept, as the list of high-quality Ukrainian wines is around 40 items.
A decent wine menu should have at least 200 wines, Klimov says. Still, he doesn’t plan to pad their menu with imported wines, and instead wants to support the domestic industry by promoting Ukrainian wine and wine culture.
Klimov, 29, first tried Ukrainian wine in 2014, and says he was pleasantly surprised. He found the Kherson Oblast-produced wine good, and soon wanted to sample the products of other Ukrainian wineries.
A couple of months later he launched the Kyiv Food and Wine Festival, a biannual event bringing together local wine producers and fans.
He opened the first Like a Local’s bar in 2016 together with his friends Yevheniia Nikolaichuk and Roman Balanyk, and the second one in 2017. Small yet popular, the bars took up the concept of the festival by serving only Ukrainian wine and food.
He says that wine made by local producers is “basic,” but tasty and good.
“Ukrainian wine is perfect for starting your acquaintance with this drink,” Klimov said.
Having experience in public relations and events, Klimov decided to combine his skills with his new interest.
“The main mission of the festival is to popularize Ukrainian wine and to develop wine culture,” he said.
Kyiv Food and Wine Festival mostly presented products of local wineries and farms, and grew very quickly.
“When I saw that thousands of people were attending the festival, I realized that most likely it’s a growing trend,” Klimov said.
Like a Local’s
Being familiar with numerous wineries in Ukraine through organizing the festival, Klimov knew what wines he wanted to sell in his bar.
Today the bars serve over 40 kinds of wine, produced by both large and smaller wineries in Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Zakarpatska oblasts.
The bar usually offers 10 wines by the glass, while others are sold by bottles.
Klimov says that their best seller is Odesa Black, a dry red wine made from a grape variety of the same name, known internationally as Alibernet.
Rosé is always popular too, he says, as it tastes good with a range of foods.
Since Like a Local’s only sells products made by legally registered local wineries, the bar has a limited choice. It’s going to grow soon because this March the parliament simplified registration of small wineries.
“The list will be two-and-a-half times longer, and the wines could be even more interesting, because as a small producer you can experiment more,” Klimov said.
Apart from wine, the bar also serves grappa and sangria, but that’s it. Klimov says that adding still more kinds of alcohol would ruin the bar’s concept.
The bar’s food is made from local products, too. Like a Local’s offers cheese and meat from Ukrainian farms, as well as various house-made dishes to accompany a glass of wine, such as pies, pâté, hummus, bruschettas, eclairs, oysters, snails, and more.
With their reasonable prices and warm atmospheres, the Like a Local’s bars – located on Sichovykh Striltsiv Street and Lva Tolstoho Square – became popular spots.
Klimov says that foreign visitors of the city often come to their bars to enjoy Ukrainian wine.
“They don’t even expect that there is such thing as a Ukrainian wine,” he said.
A bartender of the Kyiv Like a Local’s bar plays the guitar to the visitors of the bar on Lva Tolstogo Street on Aug. 1. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
Wine culture
Unlike in Italy and France, where people have been making wine for centuries, Ukraine has just started building its wine industry and it doesn’t have a widespread culture of wine drinking yet.
Klimov believes that Ukraine needs to develop this culture, as unlike other alcoholic drinks, wine has a soothing effect, he said.
“It won’t make you riotous or nervous, it will make you peaceful.”
He said that in a developed wine culture, people understand how to choose a wine, know what they’re drinking, and what food to combine it with.
To develop Ukraine’s wine culture, Klimov is attempting to educate Ukrainians about the benefits of dry wine via the Kyiv Food and Wine Festival – the event holds lectures and hands out information booklets.
He said many Ukrainians drink semi-sweet wine because they haven’t tried good dry wine.
“When you try a good dry wine you feel a diverse palette of taste. It’s like a labyrinth or a puzzle that you want to solve.”
Apart from that, it is much healthier, as it doesn’t contain sugar, he said.
A developed wine culture will also promote the growth of the industry, Klimov believes. However, that will also require high standards and experimentation in producing new wines.
Klimov said producers should put quality first rather than quantity, and try out new grape varieties and technologies. Today’s global trend for using new grape varieties is spreading in Ukraine too, and local wineries will have to keep up with industry developments, he said.
But in 30-50 years the industry will have matured and Ukrainians will proudly drink their own wine, so Klimov recommends keeping a bottle or two in the cellar now to celebrate in the future.
