UmanWinery, Ukrainian winemaker Igor Maksimenko

Enogastronomic tour to UmanWinery

UmanWinery got nominated for the Unique Program nomination bringing attention to its educational and enogastronomic tour. The distinctive feature of the Ukrainian winery is the participant’s competent approach: emphasis on the educational part of its enogastronomic tour. The practice of UmanWinery leads to elaboration of a unique offer for enogastronomic tourists and enhancement of interest in the location, and, eventually, wines.

Who is the owner of UmanWinery?

Igor Maksimenko is the founder, owner of UmanWinery, and winemaker of the company. He studied the art of making wines by resorting to the leading specialists in Ukraine and reputable European winemakers. In addition, the knowledge gained at the Sommelier School of the company “Master Class” (Kyiv) and the School of Restaurant Professions “MR.BAR School”, at numerous professional seminars and courses, helps to understand and be knowledgeable in a tremendous ocean of wines and beverages.

The winemaker Maksimenko notes: “I learned the subtle aspects and the art of creating good wines from leading experts in the Ukrainian wine industry and from outstanding European winemakers, who personally came to Ukraine for tastings and presentations of their own wines.”

What wine does the winery offer?

Production of the first experimental wines started in 2015: the emphasis was made on the Odessa Black variety, bred by Ukrainian breeders from the Tairov Institute and currently claiming to be the jewel of the Ukrainian varieties.

Among the distinctions and awards of all-Ukrainian competitions and wine tastings are the following: 1st prize – Saperavi ​​2017 in the nomination of the best red wine of the competition “Galician Vine 2019” in Lviv; silver awards of the competition “Odessa Bay” 2019 for Merlot 2017 and Saperavi 2017; bronze medals “Wine Guide of Ukraine” 2019 – Merlot 2017 and Saperavi 2017; gold medals of the Odessa Wine and Spirits Award competition for orange wine – from Muscat Ottonel with Aligote 2017, and Aliberne 2017.

Wine education as a personal mission

Apart from the wine production, Igor Maksimenko relies on education and concurrently makes a career as a bright lecturer in the field of wines. For 5 years, he has been conducting numerous wine tastings of various Ukrainian winemakers and thematic comparative tastings of the European varieties from producers of the Old and New Worlds.

He sees his mission as a wine enthusiast in the development of wine culture in the broadest sense of the word: Igor strives to ensure that his guests get to know the best samples of wines from well-known and little-known producers, to share knowledge in understanding wines and enogastronomy. During the interactive tastings, guests familiarize themselves with the methods of wine assessment, the principles of enogastronomy, and particularities related to the process of selection of glasses, for their further independent experiments with wines.