Wine Shelves in Russia

The wine section of a Metro supermarket in RussiaThe size and composition of the wine section in Russian stores and supermarkets is a good way to gauge the wine consciousness among the public in Russia. Supermarket world giants like Auchan from France and Metro from Germany have made deep inroads into Russia’s retail sector, surfing on the booming economy and ever higher wages. They expanded tremendously year after year, first in Moscow, then in other towns, and as their product range is adapted from country to country, is is utmost interesting to look at the wines they sell there today. The globalization is already the norm over here and the wine sections in all the food stores feature wines from both the Old and the New World, with the exception of Georgia and Moldova, the wines of which suffered from an import ban in Russia last year. The Metro Wine Section featured on this page is the one in the Nizhniy Novgorod outlet, and even if supermarkets in bigger Russian towns may have a slightly larger choice, this is a good indicator of the situation of the Russian market as of today.

Shoppers at the Russian-wines sectionThere are even wines from Russia proper, and while many are still of the syrupy/sweetened category favored in the Soviet era and among the older generation, there’s been a few dry wines from Russia recently, hinting at a push toward a more traditional enological approach. Most Russian wines are cheap drinks made out of concentrate and only vaguely related to wine, especially those that are “made” in-or-near Moscow (don’t be fooled by their Russian-Icon-looking labels). The most serious Russian wines come from the Southern region of Kuban and Krasnodar where a real tradition of vine growing and winemaking exists. Prices are usually lower than the imported wine

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