Winemaking in Crimea has evolved over more than two thousand years with varying success. The most significant damage was caused to it by the adoption of the Resolution of May 25th 1985 'On the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism', after which vineyards were destroyed and wineries turned into juice extracting plants. But the greatest decline in the area of vineyards and the decrease in the production of wine in Crimea occurred after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, Crimean wine-makers are trying to reorient from Ukrainian to the Russian market and survive through a period of adaptation to the conditions of the normative base of Russia.
Crimea has figured out how to contribute to the development of two sectors – tourism and winemaking. We are talking about the development of gastronomic tourism. Here, they understand that Russia is a drinking country, but believe that wine tourism and alcohol abuse are different things.
According to the head of Crimea, Sergey Aksenov, wine tourism allows you to try wines only in the places of their production to strongly associate in your mind the aroma and taste of the drink with the history and the spirit of the area. All over the world wine festivals are very popular in regions where wine production is established. Previously, such festivals were also held in Alushta, Feodosia and Bakhchisarai. Now, however, organizing them is very difficult. In accordance with the current legislation, sale of alcoholic beverages is allowed only in stationary trading premises, but wine festivals are held in open areas. Sale of wines by wineries in the framework of exhibition events and wine festivals fall under a ban.
They see a solution in a withdrawal from the situation in Crimea in allowing retail sale of wine, as well as in the implementation of enotherapy – treatment using wine, into Crimean balneology. Scientists of the Yalta Research Institute of physical methods of treatment, rehabilitation and medical climatology of Sechenov, the Medical Academy of Georgievsky, even developed guidelines for the use of enotherapy in therapeutic and recreational programs in the resorts. Results of their researches point to a positive role of wine in the prevention of stress, heart attacks and vascular lesions, affecting the development of coronary heart disease. But because of the ban on the consumption of wine in medical institutions, which includes sanatoriums, approval of the recommendations is very problematic.
That is why Aksenov proposed an addition to the Federal Law of November 22 1995 "On State Regulation, production and turnover of ethyl alcohol and alcohol products, and limited consumption of alcoholic beverages" and to allow the consumption of wine in health resorts, and other health institutions during enotherapy.
However, according to Deputy Health Minister Tatyana Yakovleva, the prevention of heart attack, stroke, and stress by wine therapy causes deep doubts among doctors, which is why it is prohibited to use alcohol in medical institutions under existing legislation. Yakovlev opposed cultural wine-drinking in medical institutions: "It is impossible, absolutely. It cannot be done in sanatorium areas where people are treated, in places they rest – please, you can do it."
Meanwhile, as stated by the director of Research Center of the federal and regional Alcohol Markets, Vadim Drobiz, from August 24th 2015 importers will raise prices for wine products by 15-25%. The head of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Alexander Tkachev, proposed prohibiting imports of wine. "Our factories are, in general, workshops for the bottling of wine. This is unacceptable. We need to raise customs duties, multiply, and make importinh wine materials to Russia unprofitable, or even close this source down," Tkachev believes.
As the head of the development of national alcohol policy, former head of the National Alcohol Association Pavel Shapkin told the newspaper 'Vzglyad', it is unknown what percentage of Crimean wine is in the alcohol market of Russia, there are only estimates. According to them, we are talking about 7-8%. Crimeans received every opportunity to engage in a substantial share of the market, but they have another problem associated with adaptation to the requirements of Russian legislation. This concerns the purchase of meters, installation of the Unified State Automated Information System, and other things that Crimean winemakers recently could not have dreamed of in their worst nightmares.
