GOST for wine lists with Russian wines will come into force from April 2025

From April 1, 2025 the national standard GOST R "Catering Services. Recommendations on the development, design and content of wine lists". This was reported in the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture on December 17.

GOST for the first time describing in detail the best practices for the design of wine lists at catering enterprises, was approved by the order of Rosstandart on November 11. Representatives of the Federation of Restaurateurs and Hoteliers of Russia, the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia (AVVR), as well as other experts directly participated in its development.

The standard establishes recommendations for restaurants, cafes and bars on compiling wine lists, including placing Russian products at the beginning of the list and accompanying them with special notes. In addition, GOST contains a recommendation on the 20 percent share of domestic wine products in the wine list.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the adoption of the state standard is an important step to position Russian wines as a worthy alternative to products from other countries.

"The implementation of the recommendations laid down in the standard will create a more convenient navigation in wine maps, which will effectively familiarize consumers with the products of Russian production and make another step for the development of wine culture in our country," the ministry believes.

It noted that, in the opinion of market participants, compliance with the recommendations will contribute to increasing the level of consumer knowledge about Russian-made wines and their popularization.

In turn, the executive director of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia (AVVR) Alexei Plotnikov expressed the opinion that the new standard will be an additional tool to attract the restaurant industry to promote Russian wines. At the same time, he emphasized: it is important that the enterprises of this segment publish domestic products on the first pages of wine lists, reminding consumers of the high level of our winemaking.

The Ministry of Agriculture of Russia also specified that in the current year in Russia there is an increase in the production of wine products: in January-November 60 million decaliters were produced, which is 14.5% above the level of 2023. In addition, sales have increased: 77.3 million decaliters were sold in the same period, which is 3% more than last year's figure. The ministry added that it expects such dynamics to continue in the future. They suggested that the introduction of a standard for wine cards will contribute to this.

Earlier, on November 8, it was reported that the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia proposed to introduce in Russia a barrier duty on imported wines from unfriendly countries up to 200%. Currently it is 25%. At the same time, according to the AVVR, the share of domestic wine in the market is 60% on average.