The history of Artwinery, like the history of sparkling wine, begins in 1693. According to legend,  the monk and winemaker Pierre Pérignon presented champagne – an aroma white wine with bubbles that tickled the palate … Yet, not understanding where the bubbles that come from, the winemakers thought they were devilish antics and did their best to ‘calm them down’. 

Only Dom Pérignon managed to tame the capricious wine, guessing to pour it into bottles with cork. Champagne became the birthplace of sparkling wines, and the local winemakers have achieved great skill in making this beverage. Yet, the French did not like champagne immediately. For a long time, this drink was sold mostly abroad, in England, where it was popular with aristocrats.

Champagne wines were sent abroad in barrels, the customer was given liqueur and the instructions on how to mix  to make sparkling wine. Connoisseurs of the bubbly drink did not get what they expected. In 1746, were decision to produce champagne in bottles. Bottles were broken on the road – so the price of champagne grew, and the fame of the drink of the kings and the rich spread around the world. 

The French to the taste of sparkling: it became a favourite drink at the court of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. Champagne houses began to open in Champagne region: Ruinart, Taittinger, Moet et Chandon, Veuve Clicquot. The winemakers from Italy, Spain, Germany gathered in Champagne to learn the secrets of making. This is how made the Italian Asti, the Spanish Cava, the German Sect.

This period was notable for two important events in the Ukrainian history of sparkling wine production. Prince Lev Golitsyn bought an estate in the Novyi Svit to revive the Crimean winemaking, which was completely destroyed during the Crimean War. And since 1882, it was at his factory that they started producing sparkling wines in the traditional way, by champagnisation in bottles. 

In the east of the country, in town of Bakhmut, engineer Edmund Farke signed a contract with the government for the construction of alabaster factories, which  became a thriving enterprise. One might ask: what does sparkling wine has to do with that? To the extraction of gypsum for factories, a kilometre underground city with microclimate was created, which the beginning of a unique wine production.

The celebration of the victory in World War II required a special drink. In the middle of 1940s, they started working on creation of a recipe for the ‘Soviet sparkling wine’, which had to be non-inferior in its quality to the champagne. The underground galleries of Bakhmut (then Artemivsk) were for the production of classic sparkling wine. In 1950, a resolution was adopted to establish the wine factory. 

Tasty and high-quality, this wine quickly became the most hard-to-find sparkling wine in the USSR, and was distributed mostly in stores for party workers off-limits for ordinary citizens. Unlike the practice of most Soviet wineries, sparkling wine was made here not by simplified and accelerated method, but by the classic French technology with long ageing.

As Ukraine became independent, the plant was able to create sparkling wines under its own brands – ‘Artemivske’ and ‘Krim’. 

Large-scale modernisation has begun at the plant. The equipment in all automated shops was replaced with more modern and more powerful units, and the laboratory was completely renovated. Some processes that used to be performed manually were automated as well. 

All this allowed the company to increase its productivity – from now on it produces 25 million bottles a year!

The company got a new name and is now called Artwinery. 

Every year Artwinery products receive more global recognition and win prizes at various international industry competitions and exhibitions. In 2020, the aged sparkling wine Artwine Brut Rose was awarded at the international tasting competition in Düsseldorf and recognised the best in the world in its category. 

And taking a look back on the story that began almost 350 years ago with the experiments of a Benedictine monk, one will realise that each stage of this journey has contributed to the victory and added its own note to this impeccable bouquet.