Sherwood Winery: winemaking is primarily an art
Sherwood Winery is a joint, licensed project of the multiple winners of the All-Ukrainian tasting wine contests – “KSV” House of Wine and the winner of the “The 2021 Highest Quality Services and Goods” contest in the nomination “Hotel and Restaurant Complex” – “Forest Club Sherwood” located in the central part of Ukraine, in the ancient city of Uman. The project was launched with the support of the Association of Cavists of Ukraine, the Sommelier School “Master-Class” and Drinks+ Media Group. Author and coordinator of the project is Serhiy Kovalenko, vine grower and winemaker.
In 2011, Serhiy Kovalenko planted vines on his own summer cottage garden plot, and in 2015, “KSV” House of Wine was founded. Cultivation of grapes, production of wines, author’s design of labels, sealing a bottle cork with wax, and subsequent branding – take most of the time, but that is perfectly fine, since the main credo of Serhiy Kovalenko: “If you want to do something well, do it yourself!”
Serhiy Volodymyrovych grows exclusively red varieties: Zweigelt, Eumolpia, Cabernet Carol, Cabernet Cortis, Livadia black, Marquette, Gurzuf Rosé, Jupiter, with special attention paid to the bush loading.
The founder of “KSV” House of Wine got his basic knowledge of winemaking mainly from books: from the “textbooks” of M. Gerasimov, A. Glazunov, G. Valuiko, J. Ribéreau-Gayon. And yet he considers that one’s own experience is the best teacher. The winemaker admits: “Experience can be very expensive, especially in terms of time”.
Today, the line of wines by “KSV” House of Wine consists of dry and dessert red wines, as well as rosé. Twelve, both single-varietal and blended red wines are produced. For vinification, only PCY (pure-culture yeast) and natural enzyme preparations from the Canadian company “Lallemand” are used. Chaptalization is prohibited at Serhiy Kovalenko’s winery. The winemaker admires Bordeaux wines most of all, and he is striving to adhere to that style, when working with dry wines. Dessert wines are produced at the winery according to the Crimean technology.
As concerns experiments in the production process, according to the winemaker, he is ready for such activities, which would be aimed at complicating the technological methods of classic winemaking.
The products of “KSV” House of Wine were appreciated not only in Ukraine, but also in Poland, Germany, Australia, and Spain. Incidentally, the Spanish experts who tasted the wines by KSV wines, assure that this style is attributable to the expensive segment in Europe.
Serhiy Volodymyrovych presumes that winemaking is primarily an art, rather than just a business, and sees his mission in enhancing the culture of wine consumption. He also plans to refine the technological techniques to create exclusive red wines that would not be inferior to foreign high-quality peers.