In early March 2022, two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine, we began to publish a series of letters that Olga Lapina, head of imports at Wine Bureau in Kyiv, had managed to send to their suppliers, trying to keep them apprised of the unfolding situation. Reading back over them now is quite heartbreaking. On day seven of the invasion, she wrote, ‘Dear Friends, Today the first week of the war is coming to an end. … we have great hope that soon this nightmare will end.’ And here we are, nearly three years later, Ukraine still under full-scale invasion, many of us now inured to the media reports of bomb damage and lost lives.
We partly become numb to war that doesn’t affect us because we are helpless. We can’t fix anything. But when Wines of Ukraine started their ‘Just one bottle’ campaign in late December 2024, it made sense – buying a bottle of Ukrainian wine is something wine lovers can do to help. It might be a small gesture, but it’s meaningful. There are wine producers who are still managing to make wine under circumstances that are impossible for most of us to imagine. We may not be able to bring world peace, but by buying Ukraine wine, we’re keeping hope and livelihoods going.
In March 2022, two London-based chefs and cookery writers, Ukrainian Olia Hercules and Russian Alissa Timoshkina, launched the #CookForUkraine campaign. My chef sister and I had huge fun taking part. So, three years into a now seemingly intractable war, it felt like a no-brainer to cook and drink wine for Ukraine. For six days over Christmas, my husband and I piled into recipes and pots to concoct food pairings for a range of Ukrainian wines. We had so much fun – and so much delicious wine and food – that I’m sharing the wine-and-food pairings here for anyone who might want to explore Ukrainian wine this winter.
In homage to Lapina’s original letters, we’re taking it from day 1.
Ukraine – day 1
Dear partners and friends,
Today we woke up because of explosions near our capital Kyiv. Russia has officially declared war on Ukraine … We are also very grateful for your concern and words of support. However, right now we ask you not only for words, but for actions … Pray for peace.
A cold day, little comfort from iron-grey skies, so we did a simple, rustic but hearty sausage, cavolo nero, chilli, garlic and white wine pan-fry. Comfort food. Fortification. To mark simplicity and bitterness, we opened Frumushika Nova’s dry Muscat Ottonel 2021 from Bessarabia, Odesa. Organically farmed, it’s just 12.5% alcohol and around 2 g/l residual sugar. It’s a quirky little wine with a dry and bitter lightness that reminded me of fresh hops flowers and hoppy wheat beer. Sausage and cavolo would normally take me to a wine with iron and blood (Shiraz or Cabernet Franc) but this wine had the bitter spine to hold the line.
Ukraine – day 2
Dear partners and friends,
Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and many other civilian sites of Ukraine (to be exact 33 towns) were struck by missiles and these attacks do not stop. Russian forces attack not only military facilities and strategic places, but also residential districts of the cities and towns. So far Ukrainian armies as well as simple citizens have heroically defended our homeland.
To celebrate courage and irrepressible energy, we opened a white fizz called Bisser from producer Kolonist. 100% Chardonnay from Kolonist’s vineyards in Odesa, harvested in 2020 and made in the traditional method, spending 18 months on lees. Each bottle is manually disgorged. The alcohol is a mere 11.5% and dosage is 14.2 g/l, so it’s a lacy little dancer of a wine which tastes of sweet apples, apple blossom and bergamot. I wasn’t brave enough to try making Ukraine’s signature black bread, but I did want to do something that would gesture towards this beautiful dark rye, as well as the Ukrainian love of smetana (cultured sour cream), horseradish and the magnificent flavour and powerful symbol of dill (see ukrop). We topped rye bread piled with sour cream, dill and horseradish with smoked eel and salmon. It was a great combination. The sea and salt and smokiness of the food brought out the delicate sweetness in the wine, and the creaminess of both food and wine brought a surprisingly soothing gentleness to the fiery horseradish and pungent, salty smokiness of the fish.
Ukraine – day 3
Dear Partners and Friends!
We are not ok, BUT WE WILL BE OKAY!
We are optimistic, we are independent and determined.
For hope and optimism and deeply rooted determination, day three was all about the national root vegetable and pink bubbles. The wine was Carpathian Sekt Rosé 2023 made by Château Chizay. It’s 100% Blaufränkisch from the Zakarpattia region, made by the Charmat method, so while not intending to deliver anything other than charm and drinkability, it turned out to be more than a pretty mouthful of strawberries and cream. It made for a playful contrast to Ukraine’s most famous dish and vegetable: borsch and beetroot. We played too: beetroot three ways. First up Georgian beetroot and walnut pkhali (because so many Georgians fly the flag for Ukraine). Then a cheeky take on Ukraine chef and food writer Olia Hercules’ beetroot and apple salad, adding grated carrot for colour and crunch.
Finally, Hercules’ stunningly sumptuous ‘borsch with duck and smoked pears’. This simple little wine can handle big flavours. It’s not just the sing-song of pink-to-pink that’s fun – the berry sweetness of the fizz lifts and brings light to the earthy depth and sweetness of the beetroot, walnut and duck flavours. It has a special affinity for walnuts! If you want to root for Ukraine, this is the way to do it. (NB It was also gorgeous with 30-month-aged Parmigiano Reggiano.)
Ukraine – day 4
Dear Partners and Friends,
The madman said he would take Kyiv in a couple of hours. US intelligence was saying Kyiv will stand for only two or three days but on this fourth day of the open war with Russia the Ukrainian capital is courageously guarded by the army, local defenders and brave citizens of the Kyiv suburbs.
On day four we opened Biologist’s Aligoté 2021 from a 3-ha vineyard in Kyiv, harvested just months before Russia invaded. It’s a defiant, will-not-back-down wine. Made with minimal intervention in the winery, 12 months in barrel with occasional lees stirring, very little added sulphites, unfined and unfiltered, it’s golden with layers of flavour – pickled lemons, dried apricots, lemon zest, black pepper, citron. Tang and salt crystals and tugging taut and terse as if all the spaces were not filling with honeysuckle and linden fragrance. Grace notes: chypre. Bass notes: mushroom. On the natural spectrum, but clean and vivid. A complex beauty with real poise and persistence. It needed something simple, yet deep. Rich, yet earthy. So, I made polenta: warm, soothing, outrageously cheesy and buttery (and yes, I added sour cream too) and topped it with a heady pile of (very) garlicky mushrooms. If polenta represents comfort and replenishment in time of need, mushrooms the hidden network of life that connects us all, garlic that which keeps the blood-suckers at bay, and this wine a life defiant, then perhaps day four is a little table blessing for the people of Ukraine.
Ukraine – day 5
Dear Friends,
We believe that after everything done by you for Ukraine you are not simply partners, but dearest friends. We cannot thank you enough for your support and help. Glory to YOU ALL!
There are no more rules in this war. But they cannot understand one thing – we are on our land, we are at home, we are united and with a great belief in our army, our people still have a fantastic sense of humour, I shall admit. Nothing can break this nation!
Black humour, or humour in dark times, either way day five had Villa Tinta’s VIP on the table. It’s a wine made from the ultra-dark, ultra-intense and rather sultry Odesa Black grape variety, which sounds, quite frankly, like a supermodel but is a cross between Alicante Bouschet and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is a slam dunk of fruit so vibrant it’s practically spinning its own orbit. It’s dark and lush and shiny: blackberries, prunes, elderberry, cassis. It’s snarking little flecks of minty freshness, mithril minerality, mica brightness. Tannins so happy that they’re twirling through the fruit leaving a dusting of cocoa footprints in their wake. And this was the best food pairing so far … My favourite food writer, Rachel Roddy (no, she doesn’t pay me; we haven’t even met; I just stalk her on The Guardian’s food pages because she makes food that makes me happy) recently posted this recipe for ‘red cabbage, apple and chestnut pie with ricotta pastry’. The timing was perfect for five reasons. Cabbage is right up there with sunflowers and beetroot in ‘things Ukrainian’. I had a surplus of home-grown apples that were starting to wrinkle. I will eat red cabbage any which way you hand it to me. I’ve loved chestnuts with a weird obsession since tasting them roasted over an open fire at San Polino many, many years ago (thank you, Katia). And you can buckle my knees with pie far quicker than you can with chocolate. So, we made the pie. My husband the carnivore insisted on including pancetta although I’d have happily gone without it. Don’t leave out the optional goat’s cheese, though. I cannot even describe how good that Odesa Black was with the red-cabbage pie.
Ukraine – day 6
22 December 2023 – Ukraine [666 days after the war began, 100 letters later]
Dear Friends and Partners,
As the holiday season approaches, our hearts are filled with warmth and joy, reflecting on the moments we have shared. Through the years, this time has meant our exchange of festive cheers through photos and videos, a tradition we hold dear.
This year, despite the challenges that have graced our path, we created a short film that not only features our import department but also showcases the heart of our country, Kyiv. Within this footage, Kyiv takes the spotlight, revealing its essence – a blend of ancient and modern, familiar streets, iconic landmarks, the bustling metro station, and even glimpses from our rooftops. It is our heartfelt desire to have you here with us once again, to experience the magic of our capital.
Filming this was quite an adventure! In just four days, we experienced weather fluctuations from -8 to +7 °C [18–45 °F], mirroring the spectrum of our days – from the darkest to those filled with hope under the sun.
Yet fate presented us with a special encounter. While filming, we met a singer named Myroslav at our folk museum. He didn't know about our video project but spontaneously sang 'My Kyiv', a cherished anthem of our city. It felt as though destiny had a hand in that moment, and we wanted to share it with you. It is a small part of our city's spirit and the unexpected surprises that make life wonderful.
Watch the video; it’s beautiful.
There is something viscerally important about cooking and eating unfarmed venison that has been shot by a friend during hunting season. It’s seasonal, ancient, a rite, a time-old relationship between hunter and prey, a community connection, an exchange between friends. I am of the old school who believes that no one should eat meat unless they know what it means to shoot an animal, a bird, catch a fish, and then prepare that creature from scratch. Nothing engenders respect for life like being a part of this process. (If you have never plucked a pheasant, then we cannot have this conversation because you will simply not know the swear words that I know.) For this last day, I wanted to cook something that would celebrate the untameable spirit of Ukraine, while recognising the raw brutality, beauty and reality of life and death. We smoked, low and slow, a haunch of venison, shot not five miles from where we live, then draped rare slices over shredded Brussel sprouts, some caramelised, some raw and crisp, tossed with lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice and grated cheese, and tried it with two wines.
Stakhovsky’s Orange Traminer was hand-picked some nine months after the Russian invasion began in February 2022. The Traminer grapes were fermented without added yeasts and spent 24 days on their skins. It smells of Damask roses and jasmine. It’s bone dry and the acidity is towering and the wine tastes bitter-ripe: of galangal, crab apples, quince laced with bitter-orange peel, bitter herbs. This is a wine that needs strong flavours, and it was good with the smoky, gamey tang of the venison, but even more so when with the sprouts and the venison. I’m not sure if it was the lemony-ness of the sprouts or the natural sweet-bitterness of the sprouts that brought everything together, but either way, it did.
The red, Beykush Loca Deserta 2019 from Mykolaiv, is a blend of varieties, roughly one-third Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and then the rest is anyone’s guess. It spends roughly 30 months in French oak. And the oak is right up there, giving the wine vanilla and praline sweetness – a bit too oaky on its own, but not at all with the venison. The wine shone with plush plums and raspberries and blueberries – rich and deep and sonorous, tempered by notes of tea leaves and bay and bark. The tannins, I am convinced, actually purred.
Please take Just One Bottle into 2025 – it’s one way that us wine lovers can be there for winegrowers wearied by war.
For many more recommendations of Ukrainian wines to try, see our tasting notes database.
