The history of the area

Centuries-Old Heritage

Fanagoria Estate Winery is located in the historical viticultural region in the western part of the Taman Peninsula, between the Black and Azov Seas. It is the site of the ancient Greek polis of Phanagoria known since 6th century BC and named after Phanagor, a courageous leader of the Greek settlers.

In the 4th – 2nd centuries BC, Phanagoria was a major trade centre of the Kingdom of Bosporus, then the biggest state in the Northern Black Sea area. The dwellers of Phanagoria used to grow vine and make wine, as it is proved by archaeological findings of grape stones, measuring vessels, wine amphorae, and grape clusters engraved on Phanagorian coins.

Approx. a dozen of ancient wineries dating back to the 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD, have survived until now. One of them, found in direct proximity to the contemporary winery, will be reconstructed and thus available for all Fanagoria Winery visitors.

Having survived the invasion of nomadic tribes of the Goths and Huns, the polis of Phanagoria flourished till the end of the 14th century. During its history, he was the capital of Magna Bulgaria, one of the major cities of old Rus’ Tmutorokan Principality, until it was eventually destroyed – first by the troops of Barbarian tribes, and then – submerged in sea.

The revival of Kuban winemaking took place in the last third of the 19th century. It was then that from France, classical grape varieties – Chardonnay , Sauvignon, Claret – would be imported to serve as the basis for future winemaking. Organization of Temriuk Winemaking Department was the following step to follow. By the beginning of the 20th century, Kuban became one of the winegrowing regions of the Russian Empire. Before World War I, its annual yields equaled to 16 million kg. Alas, no proper attention was paid thereafter until the 1950’s. So, only the opening of a new winery in the settlement of Sennoi (the future Fanagoria Estate Winery) became a landmark in the rebirth of the history of the local wines.

The predecessor of Fanagoria is the Sennovsky Winery was established in 1957.

In 1963 the construction of a wine and juice enterprise was completed - the largest in the USSR and the second in Europe in terms of grape juice production. The enterprise produced a wide range of juices from the grape varieties "aligote", "rkatsiteli", "claret", "riesling", "cabernet", "muscat". The high quality of the products is claimed by the fact that Fanagoria juices were the official drinks of the Olympic Games in 1980 and the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1985.

In 1996 JSC agro industrial firm "Fanagoria" was established. A decision was made on the priority production of grape wines, which resulted the technical re-equipment of the enterprise and the launch of five new bottling lines. The release of Fanagoria balm has begun.

2001 - the production of wines of the "Numeric Reserve" collection started.

2002 - production of Russian sparkling wines began.

2004 - the ceramic workshop was opened.

2005 - for the first time in the history of the enterprise Fanagoria wines were exported to Japan. The production of premium sparkling wines, brut, has begun.

2006-2012 a large-scale reconstruction of the enterprise takes place. A cold wine bottling line with a capacity of 12 thousand bottles per hour was put into operation, a new finished product warehouse with a capacity of 3 million bottles was opened. 1230 hectares of new vineyards have been planted. The capacitive economy is changing.

2007 - The first batch of Cru Lermont premium wines was released. Exports of Phanagoria wines to the USA began. The enterprise celebrated its half-century anniversary.

2008 - export of Fanagoria wines to Israel began.

2009 - the total area of Fanagoria vineyards increases to 2300 hectares. The production of brandy and sparkling wine was started in the classical way. Fanagoria was declared the brand of the year at the Moscow international wine competition. Wine "Cru Lermont Cabernet Sauvignon Fanagoria" won the Grand Prix of the "Wines of Kuban" festival.

2011 - Fanagoria receives numerous awards at international competitions.

2011 - production of sub-premium "Signature wines" started, positioned between the collections "Numeric Reserve" and "Cru Lermont". A new line of "Fanagorisky" brandy has been released. The line of ANRI cognacs has been expanded. The vineyard area was increased to 2500 hectares. Fanagoria received medals at prestigious international exhibitions The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition (HKIWSC), China Wine Awards'2011, Vinnaya Karta Open 2011, The London International Wine Fair 2011. The first organic wine in Russia BioLogic was released , which received a certificate of participation in the exhibition Biodivino 2011 and the award of high points. The first large-scale Riesling crop was harvested from Fanagoria's vineyards.

In August 2011, its own cooper shop began work.

2012 - Rose semi-sweet sparkling wine was released in the Madame Pompadour and Cunning and Love series of sparkling wines. Fanagoria has expanded its Cru Lermont line of premium dry aged wines with two new items - Cru Lermont Aligote and Cru Lermont Saperavi. The production of the fifth grade of Ice Wine - cabernet - has begun. "Signature wine number 1" was released in addition to five existing wines of this line: "Cabernet - Saperavi", "Pinot noir - Merlot", "Cabernet - Tsimlyansky black", "Aligote - Riesling", "Chardonnay - Aligote". They also released dry white wine of the geographical name “Riesling. Numeric reserve ". Expansion of the Fanagoria brand store network.

Launch of a timber processing shop. Now Fanagoria cooperage, which produces cognac and wine barrels under the Old Russian Oak brand, has a complete closed production cycle that has no analogues in Russia: its own plots in the forestry areas of the Caucasian mountains of the Krasnodar territory; harvesting of oak and associated timber (pine, beech) with quality control of cut trunks at least 80 years old; deep processing of timber in our own workshop and production of cognac and wine barrels with a capacity of 5 to 600 liters with various degrees of burning.

2013 - Fanagoria develops its retail network, operates 25 brand stores, and opens a new tasting room. The company received a license for international transportation. Fanagoria started exporting oak barrels to Chile, Scotland and Ukraine. Construction of your own power plant. A new direction was developed - the cultivation of rose seedlings.

New items were released: the line "Liqueur wine", sparkling wine "Fanagoria" brut, minions with a volume of 0.187 liters were released; "Signature wine Cabernet Franc".

2014 - The company took an active part in the Winter Olympic Games and the first Formula 1 races in the history of Russia. Release of the Reserve line: "Chardonnay", "Riesling", "Cabernet", "Merlot", "Saperavi", "Muscat". Grape vodka "Chacha Zolotaya" was released.

2015 - The Fanagoria chain of branded stores consists of 46 own stores and 17 franchised stores in 8 regions of the Russian Federation. This year, 23 own and 6 franchisee stores were opened.

New items were released: single-varietal sparkling wines: "Riesling" dry white, "Muscat Ottonel" semi-sweet white; still wines «Cru Lermont Riesling"," Author's Wine Riesling - Gewurztraminer "," 100 Shades of Red Saperavi ". For the first time, Ice Wine Riesling and Sauvignon Sauternes were produced in a volume of 0.1 liters. "Author's wine Cabernet - Saperavi" is released in a bottle "Magnum" 3 l.

Fanagoria became the first company to enter with its wines in the Registers of bona fide participants in the alcohol market; we purchased six new vinifiers manufactured by Cadalpe (Italy); became the first Russian wine-making enterprise, whose products received the Russian Quality Mark for wines from the Cru Lermont collection. Sixteen Fanagoria wines received the right to use the sign "Kuban Wines - the Pride of Russia".

2016 - The Fanagoria chain of branded stores consists of 58 own stores and 21 franchise stores. In 2016, 22 own stores and 9 franchisee stores were opened. The private cooper shop of the Fanagoria wine estate purchased two new machines from the Slovenian company Ledinek, as well as equipment for the production of small-capacity containers. Artur Sargsyan's author's guide "Russian Wines 2016" includes 17 "Fanagoria" wines. Fanagoria became a member of the Society of Friends of the Peterhof Museum-Reserve. Fanagoria wines are presented in Duty Free shops of Sheremetyevo airport. Processed 36,044.88 tons of grapes - a record figure in the entire history of the enterprise.

New items were released: grape vodka "Chacha Muscat", liqueur wines "Vintage Port 2012" and "Vintage Cahors 2011", 10-year-old Russian brandy "Fanagoria", sparkling wines "Muscat Ottonel" brut and "Cabernet Franc" brut, as well as " Fanagoria "white semisweet and" Fanagoria "white brut in 0.2 l bottles.

2017 - "Fanagoria" became the first enterprise-member of the SRO "Vinodelchesky Soyuz", which received a license for the production of wine products of the category PGI and ZNMP. Artur Sargsyan's author's guide "Russian wines 2017-2018" includes 25 "Fanagoria" wines. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary wine-making season, one of the largest wine cellars in Russia with an area of 3000 m2, which is designed for 5000 barrels, was solemnly opened.

New items were released: 5-year-old Russian cognacs of five-year aging "Fanagoria" and ANRI; grape distillates “Chacha Osobaya”, “Chacha Otbornaya”, “Chacha Zolotaya” and “Chacha Muscatnaya” in a volume of 0.05 l wines "Cru Lermont Pinot Grigio", "Vintage Saperavi", liqueur wine "Cahors" (this is the first bottling of PGI wines in the history of the company); Fanagoria Grand, 25 years old Russian cognac; grape distillate (grape vodka) "Chacha Sochi"; Sparkling wine "Fanagoria" Blanc de Cabernet ("Cabernet in white"); a collection of extra-brut Fanagoria, created according to the classical secondary fermentation technology and aged for at least two years in the bottle; new collections of wines "Autochthon", F-Style, Fine Select, "Gold of Taman".

2018 - Fanagoria, for the first time in its history, bottled products with the protected designation of origin (PDA) “Sennoy. Taman Peninsula "-" 100 shades of red Saperavi 2016 "and" Vintage Saperavi 2016 ". Several collections were redesigned: Fanagoria sparkling wines, premium wines "101 shades of red", Madame Pompadour. Fanagoria announced the launch of wine tours. For the first time in many years, we completed the grape harvest in September. The wines of the category ZNMP are poured from the Cru Lermont collection. Artur Sargsyan's 2018-2019 author's guide includes 19 Fanagoria wines.

New items were released: Fanagoria brandy, a line of sweet wines from Velvet Season late harvest grapes; collection of brandy "F-Style"; collection sparkling wines; collection of wines Food Time.

2019 - 32.635 tons of grapes harvested from vineyards located on the Taman Peninsula were processed at Fanagoria. 146 hectares of new vineyards were planted on the Taman Peninsula (PGI "Kuban. Taman Peninsula", ZNMP "Sennoy") with the varieties "Saperavi", "Krasnostop Zolotovsky", "Pukhlyakovsky", "Hay", "Merlot" (all - own seedlings) and 69 hectares in Gostagay (new vineyards near Anapa) with the varieties Pinot Noir, Viognier, Krasnostop Zolotovsky, Saperavi.

Fanagoria produced and bottled 2.009.0 thousand decalitres of products. The production of still and sparkling wines of the PGI category increased to 578.6 thousand decalitres (an increase of 19.2%), and the production of wines of the ZNMP category - up to 24.1 thousand decalitres (an increase of 163.2%). After a long break, the production of varietal grape juices was resumed. A total of 34,520 bottles were produced, or 1.3 thousand decaliters of two types of juices: "Chardonnay" and "Cabernet".

The enterprise continued large-scale reconstruction within the framework of the strategic program of technological re-equipment: the crushing and press department (grape processing workshop) was reconstructed, 3 out of 5 existing processing lines (bunker, crusher, pump) were replaced, membrane ceramic-titanium filtration equipment was purchased PADOVAN for the wine storage, the volumes of cognac aging were increased, the barrel park was constantly renewed, the workshop for the preparation and aging of sparkling wines in the classical way (with a controlled temperatures, fat pallets, etc.), 6 Mythos vinifiers were purchased at 6.000 decalitres (with stirring with an inert gas).

Fanagoria wines have participated and won numerous international competitions, including: the tasting competition of the international exhibition PRODEXPO-2019, the international tasting competition Decanter-2019 in London, the international wine competition MUVINA-2019 in Slovakia, the tasting competition International Wine Award MUNDUS VINI Summer Tasting 2019 in Germany, tasting competition "International Wine Challenge" - AWC Vienna - 2019, tasting competition TerraVino Mediterranean International Wine & Spirit Competition in Israel and many others. Fanagoria is also included in the list of wineries that are mentioned in the new 8th edition of the Atlas of the World. Wine ”- a fundamental work on the winemaking of all countries of the world, the presentation of which took place in the ceremonial hall of the“ Honorable Company of Wine Merchants ”in London.

New items were released: "Signature wine Cabernet Sauvignon Rose", a line of still and sparkling wines "Winemaker & Sommelier", "F-Style Petit Verdot", "F-Style Aligote", "F-Style Cabernet in white", "F- Style Cabernet Franc in white ", a line of wines" The Lines ", a limited batch of aged wine" Fanagoria Crimean bridge Cabernet - Saperavi".