Vedernikov Winery
🇷🇺 Konstantinovsk, Rostov Oblast
A single bottle sold for 750,000 rubles at auction—a record for Russian wine. The wine? Krasnostop Zolotovsky 2012, from grapes so rare they grow nowhere else commercially. The winemakers? A father-son team reviving Don Valley varieties that survive -25°C winters buried under snow, proving Russia's indigenous grapes can command Bordeaux-level prices.
The Don Valley isn’t supposed to produce fine wine. At 350-400 meters elevation on titonian limestone, it’s among the world’s most northerly wine regions—so extreme that vines must be buried each winter to survive temperatures hitting -25°C. Most winemakers would plant Cabernet and call it a day.
Valery Troychuk planted Krasnostop Zolotovsky instead. When Troychuk gained control of Vedernikov Winery in 1999 (originally founded in 1970), he made a contrarian bet: Don Valley’s indigenous varieties—Krasnostop Zolotovsky, Sibirkovy, Tsimlyansky Cherny, Pukhlyakovsky—could produce wines worthy of international attention if treated seriously.
His 200 hectares of phylloxera-resistant vines became the largest pure plantings of these varieties in the world. The 2023 auction result—750,000 rubles for a single bottle of 2012 Krasnostop—spectacularly validated the strategy. But Troychuk’s real achievement isn’t the auction record.
It’s building a business model around varieties most Russian wineries consider curiosities. Vedernikov pioneered Russia’s first autochthonous pet-nat (2020) and Krasnostop rosé (2022), winning “Best autochthonous wine in Russia” from Top100Wines (2022) and highest honors at Europe Wine & Spirit Awards 2024.
Each innovation expands the commercial potential of autochthonous varieties, proving they can support premium positioning and product diversity. Succession adds momentum. Maxim Troychuk—UK-educated, serving as Deputy General Director and head of Vedernikov—represents the next generation of Russian winemakers: internationally trained, innovation-focused, and representing the brand at competitions worldwide.
His father built the infrastructure; he’s building the reputation. Abrau-Durso Group’s 2015 acquisition of Vedernikov provides export infrastructure (19+ countries) and capital for scaling while maintaining operational independence. They’re now participating in the Eastern market pivot to China, bringing autochthonous Russian varieties to consumers who’ve never heard of Krasnostop Zolotovsky.
If the China strategy works, Don Valley varieties could become Russia’s export calling card—the opposite of all established “international varieties only” wisdom.