Russia's first wine town "White Cape" to open in 2025 in Gelendzhik

In 2025, the first Russian wine town "White Cape" will appear in Gelendzhik - a complex with an area of more than 40 thousand square meters, which will include a unique museum dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the tradition of Russian winemaking, restaurants, a wine laboratory, a sommelier school, a cinema and the largest wine library in Russia. The project is being created by the group of Joint Stock Bank ROSSIYA and has no analogues in the world.

"There are no analogues to it. There are many wineries. There are many different interesting wine places, but here is such a thing as a wine city, such a scale - many establishments from different wineries of the country. The creators of the project have ideas to do the best for the country, for the Russian wine industry", - said the head of the project Dmitry Levitsky.

White Cape" city will be built surrounded by vineyards and the Black Sea - a unique platform will become a meeting place for both wine fans and professionals in this industry.

The project is being created by the group of Joint Stock Bank "RUSSIA", which has made huge investments in it. It is supposed that thanks to such a platform there will be a good impulse for the development of the region's economy: new jobs will be opened, professions necessary for the region will appear. Thus, "White Cape" should raise the culture of wine consumption to a whole new level.

"White Cape Wine City" is an unusual architectural project. The whole thing is that the whole complex is located on a slope. And in order to harmonize with the landscape, all the structures are wave-shaped - they repeat the mountains of Gelendzhik," - said correspondent Mary Badunts.

In total, there will be more than 20 establishments in the city. Each wine brand will be presented through the cuisine and interior. Thus, acquaintance with the legendary "Massandra" will be held in the company of writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. And here "New Light" will bring to the atmosphere of dinners of prince and winemaker Lev Golitsyn.

"On the one hand, it is an exquisite art space, on the other hand - it is a support of people who work daily on the land and support this annual, noble cycle, which has never been interrupted," - said the chairman of the board of the association "Federal Self-Regulatory Organization of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia" Dmitry Kiselev.

Modern winemaking in the Russian Federation has also reached a whole new level. Thanks to the group of Joint-Stock Bank "RUSSIA" technological and agricultural equipment is purchased, vineyards are being expanded. Only last year more than 800 hectares of new plantations were planted - more than 15% of all planted vineyards in the country. Wine City will open in the summer of 2025. "White Cape" will be a place to fall in love, educate and immerse in wine culture.

The architectural concept for the wine city was developed in 2020-2021 by English archbureau Dyer, led by Philip Ball. Later, in the course of the project implementation, it was finalized by architectural bureaus from Russia.

Marina Shpilko from Dyer's Moscow office became the project manager for the development of architectural solutions for the White Cape. She has been working in Dyer's international studio for more than 10 years. Her team has vast experience in working with complex international projects - for example, Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Ludwig Museum in Budapest, Surf Center in Bristol and others.

"The task was to make a perpendicular branch of the city embankment, so that we could also have a walk along this street further into the future park," Shpilko said.

The study of the territory is the most important stage of Dyer's bureau's work on projects. The experts are helped to reveal the meanings and unique features of the area by its detailed study and interaction with the residents. This is how the project "White Cape" in Gelendzhik was created, which will harmoniously fit into the existing urban environment, using local elements and natural resources.

Earlier, on November 7, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said at the plenary session of the Russian Wine Forum that the grape harvest in the Russian Federation at the end of 2024 is forecasted at the level of 800 thousand tons, despite the difficult weather conditions. He also added that 6 thousand hectares of new vineyards are planned to be planted in 2024. Patrushev pointed out that taking into account the cutting and repair of vineyards, the total figure will reach 106-107 thousand hectares.

In August, the launch of a pilot project to assess the terroirs of Kuban was announced by the president of the Kurchatov Institute, Mikhail Kovalchuk Mikhail Kovalchuk at the meeting of the technical committee of Rosstandart "Viticulture and Winemaking" in Gelendzhik. To implement the project, sites in Anapa, Novorossiysk, Krymsky, Temryuksky and other districts will be studied. Scientists will study the soil composition, the influence of climatic and weather conditions on it for 50 years. Soil-climatic maps will be created in 2026. In October, providing details of the project, Kovalchuk noted that wine is determined not by a particular land or grape variety, but by terroir as a combination of factors.