The Russian wine festival "Vinograd" began in Veliky Novgorod

The fifth season of the large-scale enogastronomy festival "Vinograd" has begun in Veliky Novgorod, bringing together producers, scientists and artists.

The program of the event includes fairs, theatrical performances, creative meetings and professional tastings. The site is divided into thematic zones representing different wine regions of the country. In particular, in the thematic area representing Crimea, samples of the oldest Massandra enterprise are presented, whose specialists teach guests the art of sommelier.

"This is the largest wine and gastronomy festival in Russia, where the most famous wineries have come," said Ekaterina Toporishcheva, head of the National Agency for Marketing Russian Wine, in an interview with Anastasia Kharchenko, a correspondent for Izvestia.

Olga Lependina, brand ambassador of Massandra, spoke about the Muscat White Red Stone wine, which has won a huge number of awards around the world and has no analogues in any country. Alyona Redkina, a representative of the brand marketing of the Crimean brands Massandra, Inkerman, and Novy Svet, noted that Russian producers represent not only classic wines, but also feel the trends of the existing market.

The scientific component of the festival is presented on the basis of the branch of the Polytechnic Museum. The exhibition highlights the history of the industry and the latest achievements of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center in the field of viticulture.

"We just had an explosion, we didn't have any Russian wine at all. Now we occupy more than 60, almost 70%. Today, this is a strict control, in any case, it is wine, a natural product," said Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center.

Industry experts also note the international recognition of domestic products. According to Pavel Mayorov, Deputy Executive Director of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia, since 2015, Russian companies have regularly received the highest awards at world exhibitions.

"These are medals from international competitions, and since 2015 we have been constantly taking platinum and double gold medals. Today, we will literally receive the results for the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles competition," Mayorov added.

In Veliky Novgorod, the festival's events will last until Sunday, June 14th. The current season is held in the format of a tour: after the Novgorod region, Ufa, Samara, Yaroslavl and Gelendzhik will host Vinograd.

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In February, Russian winemakers received the highest award of the international tasting competition Terravino 2026 in Israel, the winner of the Grand Champion International was the premium sparkling wine from the house of Abrau-Durso Brut d'Or Riesling harvest in 2022. In total, wines from Russian producers received 11 awards in the Double Gold category, as well as 19 gold and 11 silver medals.