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SHABO’s wine culture center: here everyone can appreciate the achievements of the Ukrainian winemakers

Ukraine

One of SHABO’s important social projects is the Wine Culture Center established in 2009. Its goal is to give everyone the opportunity to personally see where noble drinks are made, and to feel like being a part of Ukrainian winemaking.

The bicentennial Swiss cellars, contemporary art objects, museums, cinemas, a musical fountain, production and professional tastings of wines that have been conquering the world: this is a whole range of experiences and tastes, which are available here. And, here, everyone can appreciate the achievements of the Ukrainian winemakers.

Here are the TOP 5 main (but not all) reasons to fall in love with the Wine Culture Center:
  1. To go in for history and appreciate contemporaneity.
  • The first vineyards on the banks of the Dniester river were planted by the Greeks. 500 years ago, the Ottoman Turks gave our area the name “Asha-Abag”, which means “Lower Gardens”. And in 1822, settlers from Switzerland founded the wine-making settlement Shabag in the territory of Shabo, having thus established the tradition of winemaking here. 
  • Ukraine has an ancient history of winemaking, which is about 2000 years old. And we are happy to present it to our guests. 
  1. To get astonished by the scales and taste the unique products.
  • The area of vineyards is 1,200 hectares, where more than 20 varieties of grapes are grown from the best nurseries of France and Italy. Along with traditional European and Georgian varieties, there is also a purely local one – Telti-Kuruk, which was brought by the Ottoman Turks. In SHABO, the oldest and largest plantings of own-rooted Telti-Kuruk have been grown from mother vines since 1972. It is from this variety that the first wine of Controlled Designations of Origin was created in Ukraine (analogous to the French Appellation d’Origine Controlee). 

Our Wine Culture Center includes:

  • The amazing House of Sparkling Wines. This is a historical object, which was completely restored in 2013. In its exterior design, brickwork with an ancient history is used. In 2016, SHABO’s House of Sparkling Wines won the architectural competition for commercial buildings. Here, the winemakers from SHABO company produce the best sparkling wines of Ukraine (according to two Charmat technologies and the classic method of champagnization in bottle). The best equipment, laboratory, huge acratophores, and Gyropalette: absolutely everything is open to our visitors.
  • House of Cognacs. Since 2005, the company has been producing cognac and brandy, and since 2013, Shabo’s grape vodka, which was created using the exclusive technology.
  • Department of micro winemaking with the best equipment in Europe. It produces premium wines using the best technologies in the world. 
  • Qvevri Hall. Our guests can see how unique wines are made according to the Kakhetian technology, which is more than 8 thousand years old (it is included into the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List). To ensure this, we brought 15 qvevris (special amphoras) from Georgia, made by a distinguished family … We had to wait in line for about a year to have the qvevris made by them. 
  • Exclusive wine hall. It contains a family collection of Great Wines, which SHABO has been creating for over 13 years. This is the gold reserve of Ukraine: unique wines of the best harvest years, from selected grapes of the best micro-sites of our terroir. Wines that are the only ones in Ukraine and have received the status of controlled appellations of origin (analogous to the French Appellation d’Origine Controlee). Among them, for example: Ukrainian SHABO Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, which entered the TOP-5 of the best in the world, not losing to the famous Château Margaux. This hall is also a special tasting room, where you can buy a small wine cell and be able to store your wine in it for 10 to 50 years. Each of our clients will soon be able to use their phone to check the temperature and humidity in the cell, whether everything is in order with the wine. If a client wants to pick up a wine for an anniversary, wedding or just to celebrate a regular Tuesday, we will deliver this bottle the very next day to any location whatsoever in Ukraine. 
  1. To feel proud about Ukrainian wines. SHABO wines have won more than 500 awards at international competitions. SHABO is the only company representing Ukraine at the Wine Museum in Bordeaux, where there is only one sample from each state. Our wines are available in Michelin restaurants in Paris and London. Ukrainian SHABO products are sold in 19 countries of the world. Creating wine masterpieces, the company has been cooperating for many years with well-known consultants from France (SARL DERENONCOURT) and Georgia. By its own example, the company proves that Ukraine is a wine-producing country, and great wines can be created here. It was with this dream in mind that the Iukuridze family created SHABO. 
  2. To learn about a new profession. After such tastings, the visitors become … well, not professional sommeliers, but definitely professional amateurs! 

Oenology will be complemented by a gastronomic component: next to the Center, guests will find the Shabsky Dvorik restaurant, which is offering dishes of Ukrainian, Georgian, and European cuisine. People from all over Ukraine come here for barbecue on the vine and special khinkali. 

  1. To get to know the success formula. A visit to the Center makes it clear that winemaking is not just a business, but a worldview based on respect for the native land, human labor, the world’s, and national traditions. SHABO is confident that Ukrainians have the right to be proud of the wine from their native country. And the mission of the company is to provide them with this right. Others did not believe it, but we managed to prove that Ukraine is a wine-producing country.

For us, such a project, and its development, represent an opportunity to show how and due to what our country can surprise its compatriots and tourists of the world. In the Wine Culture Center, you can listen to a tour from professional guides in 6 different languages.

About 50,000 tourists visit the SHABO Wine Culture Center every year. Organized excursions are held here with great success, as well as events aimed at enhancing the culture of drinking, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and strengthening family traditions.