The Wine Industry Of The German Colonies In The Crimea

By A. M.'
Translation by J. M. Richey2

Wines from the Crimea surpass in quality all other wines produced in Russia, including those from the Trans-Caucusus. They are first rate quality wines and
popular in Russia as well as abroad, in spite of their price. During the rule of the Czars, Crimean wines held first place on the wine export list because of their great demand based on quality. The most famous and most expensive of the Crimean wines were the Sudak wines (Sudakskije wina) named after the German wine colony of Sudak. Sudak was located nearby the Russian village of the same name on the gentle slopes of the southern Jaila Mountain range.
This German colony was founded by German farmer immigrants during the reign of Czar Alexander I. These were Schwabian wine growers who settled here. The nature of the soil in the southern half of the Crimea is ideal for wine production. The area is well protected from harsh climates by the mountain range to the north, and thus has a sub-tropical climate. The Schwabian im-
migrants settled down, worked hard, and soon produced the wine coveted world-wide for its quality.

Wine was not produced in the Crimes prior to 1804. All of the first efforts at wine production were experimental, done mainly by the Russian noblemen of the region. But there was no real progress until the German colonists
arrived. The vineyards begun in Sudak stretched from Sudak throughout the southern part of the Crimea in the direction of the settlements of Gursuf, Jalta, Balaklawa, and Sevastopol. Whoever has visited this beautiful area
of the Crimea will surely talk about the beautiful vineyards gracing the landscape for kilometers on end. Certainly, not all the vineyards belonged to German vintners, but the majority of them did.

On the average, the individual vintner devoted several dozen hectares(l hectare = 2.47 acres) of land. But there were some farmers who owned several hundred, even thousands of hectares of vineyards. The most well-to-do
of these was a Mr. Stahl. He had title to 15,000 hectares of vineyards. He owned the majority of the vineyards in Sudak, Gursuf, Balaklawa, and Sevastopol areas. He even had vineyards inside the city limits of Sevastopol
and in its immediate vicinity. He also owned the so-called "Malchow Kurganes" slopes, an area historically well known. He was the largest wine grower in Russia, produced only top quality wines, and owned gigantic wine
cellars. Those who have seen these cellars and tasted the wine will always long to return for more.

Over a period of years the Schwabian vintners amassed great personal wealth and could buy large houses in Jalta, Gursuf, Balaklawa, and Sevastopol. Also they bought hotels and wine parlors (or had these built) where
they served their own products. We know as a fact that these specific German hotels and wine parlors were they served. These Schwabian vintners were indeed rich.

The German settlements established on the north slopes of the Crimean Mountains -- Friedental, Rosental, Zurichtal, and Heilbronn as well as the southeastern sought out by visitors because of the quality of the wine
colonies of Otus and Herzenberg (these are the mother colonies of the Crimea) -- worked also as vintners, but only as a part-time effort. Each farmer there established one to four hectares of vineyards. Nevertheless, the
profit from the vineyards often surpassed the profit from the larger agricultural endeavors. These vintners raised select grapes which brought a high price.
With the establishment of daughter colonies on the large steppe lands of the Crimes, the vineyard also expanded into the area. There was not one farmer on the Crimen steppes who did not have at least one vineyard, even if he only farmed a quarter of a hectare or less. These grapes were for his own use, meaning for his family, guests, and hired labor. Certainly the wine from the
steppes of the Crimea did not have the same quality as the wine from the south part. But the colonists on the steppe tried everything to improve their quality.

 For example, they dug trenches of about one and a half meter depth and filled it with gravel and loam (loam and gravel were considered to provide the best rooting medium for grapes). These artifically created soils produced grapes
and wines of almost the same quality as some of those in the south of the Crimea. Over a period of years, my grandfather had much of his twelve hectares set aside for wine growing to be excavated and filled with loam
and gravel. There he planted to high quality grapes, and these produced superior wines. These men on the steppes learned that they had to
make these laborious and expensive procedures of changing the texture of the soil. (The term "umregolen" was applied to this procedure of changing soil texture).

 The end result was a good income for the German farmers, even in cases where only two to three hectares were devoted to grapes. It is especially evident when the income from one hectare of vineyards is compared to an
equal area devoted to grain. The yield of the average seeding of wheat in the Crimea was 80 to 100 pud per hectare (I pud   36 pounds). One pud of wheat brought 1.12 rubles. The gross income in years of good wheat yield per hectare was, at best, 100 to 120 rubles. One hectare of vineyards provided an entirely different income. The average grape harvest produced 800 to 1200 Russian wedro (1 wedro = 3.3 gallons) wine. In an exceptional year a farmer would produce more than 2000 wedro. Depending on the quality of the wine produced, one wedro would bring one to two rubles. For quality wine
the return was three to six rubles per wedro. Based on the average price of one or one and a half rubles, the gross and showed income from one hectare was at least 800 -- and up to 1800 -- rubles per hectare. In order to get the equivalent return from wheat one would have to plant 10 to 20 hec-
tares of wheat. However, it must be realized that the establishment of vineyards and the work involved with vineyards compared to wheat took much labor and investment of money. The investment in the vineyards did give good returns and the income was many times greater than from other agricultural sources. All the farmers who made wine their major income source, could in a short
time, attain great wealth.

The grape harvest was called by the good old Schwabian term "Herbschte," and the celebration of the harvest as "Herbschtfest" (fall festival). It was always a happy time. The villager residents traded labor with each other to harvest the grapes. The grapes next were turned through a mill and then pressed in a wine press. It took eight days for the grape juice to ferment in open containers. Then it was decanted into barrels. After several weeks -- up to two months -- it was ready to sell.

The large wine cellars of Simferopol, Eupatoria, Jalta, Feodosia, Sevastopol, and others picked up the wine from the German vintners to export it abroad. How many Crimean vintners were involved in wine export can no longer be determined unfortunately, because no statistics were kept. Knowledgable people place this at about 60 to 70 percent. From the grape residues -- the so-called Troester (consolation) -- the farmers distilled a Troester-Schnapps (consolation liqueur) which was in demand by the Russians. It provided additional income. It should be indicated too that the grape harvest celebration included happy feasting and was concluded with a dance.

The Soviet government banished these diligent, hard working, exemplary vintners and farmers to the Siberian north to perform slave labor. But they will never vanquish the fame they achieved by establishing in many districts of the Crimea the wine and the agricultural industry and culture of the Crimea. And above all, their production of famous wines.

Heritage Review, 22:3, 1992