Isaac, we visited St. Petersburg this year, and were served wine by the carafe at a couple of restaurants. We were told that virtually all of the wine served in St. Petersburg and Moscow came from the Ukraine (as did both of our examples, and both of which were pretty good) or Georgia.
Jancis Robinson published a fascinating article about wine in Russia, written by Anne Popoff, a Canadian living and working in Russia -- the article appeared in 2002. I don't know if you need to be a subscriber or not to get it at:
http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/jr775
If you can't get it, and you would like to read it, send me a Private Message and I'll send you a copy.
Extract:
One thing is certain - wine consumption is rising steadily in Russia. However the type of wine consumed is another story. The general public, by which I mean the non-moneyed and the less sophisticated still prefer sweet, cloying alcoholic beverages - this is valid for Russian champagne, red and white wines. These wines are often bottled in Russia (screwcap variety) and are made in factories. Great vats of grape juice are purchased, usually from the southern regions of Russia, such as Krasnodar and the Crimea, and alcohol and sugar are added to produce 'wine'. They are then bottled (I don't think 'aging' of any sort takes place here) and sold at prices the average Russian can afford, ie, anywhere from 25 to 50 RUR (US$1 = 30 RUR). I have had the opportunity to visit several such wine-making establishments and it is not a pretty sight. The owners tell me that wine sales are not growing significantly (actually, women are probably the largest consumers at this level, since they do not drink vodka - this is a 'manly' beverage). Vodka continues to be the number one beverage and beer is the next new thing. Under Russian law, beer is not considered to be an alcoholic beverage. It is very common to see teenagers walking down the street with a half litre bottle of beer in their hands. Public drinking in this fashion is condoned, since it is also cheaper than sitting down in a cafe/restaurant. 'Portwein' is also considered a sweet wine, much beloved by winos and other undiscriminating palates. Again, this is made in factories, same as wine, bottled and sold at cheap, affordable prices in the kiosks. So this is the sorry state of affairs at the most base level.
One step up and you start buying the Southern Russian, Moldavian and Georgian wines. I don't want to repeat to you what you wrote about the Moldavian and Georgian wines in your Concise Oxford Companion to Wine, except to say that most of the Moldavian wines sold here are sweet. There are however several nuances: sweet (sladkoe), semi-sweet (polu-sladkoe), semi- dry (polu-sukhoe) - and this is still very sweet by Western standards -and dry (sukhoe) - almost impossible to find in champagne and even so, it has no relation to our 'brut', it is still mellow. The dry red wines from Southern Russia probably just don't travel well and the quality is about the same as the wines made and bottled in the rest of the country. Some of the Crimean wines are perfectly drinkable, but again do not travel very well. The Moldavian dry reds tend to be watery and very tannic, while retaining a strong grape juice flavour. Perhaps they too, are better consumed 'sur place'. The Georgian red dry wines, one has to be very careful with - many are bottled in Russia, so you are not sure of what you are getting. Those that come from Georgia, bottled there, are more expensive and a good Georgian wine can set you back from US$12-25, but there are respectable table wines for less. For the average person, this is quite a lot of money. As a reminder, in Moscow, the average monthly salary is US$100 (3000 RUR) and pensions - despite Putin's best efforts to increase them on a regular basis - vary between a paltry 500-900 RUR per month. The good Georgian wines, and there are a lot of them, are very full-bodied, deep coloured, almost inky in their consistency, long finishes and you don't need a lot to go a long way from a flavour point of view!
This report is totally consistent with the information we received from our guide, a native of St. Petersburg who has lived in Denmark, traveled extensively in the US and Europe, and who knows quite a bit about wine. We gave her a bottle of a nice Aussie blend of Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, and she was delighted -- she said she would bring it to a wine dinner that a group of friends holds once a month. She also indicated that the group invariably imports wines from Europe for these events.
If anyone needs an excellent guide in St. Petersburg, I'll be delighted to forward Olga's name and contact information.
REgards, Bob
