The results of the tasting contests "Odessa Wine & Spirit Awards" and the project "Best Riedel glass for Odessa Black variety" were summed up.

On Thursday evening, sommeliers from all over Ukraine summed up the results of the competitions and named the best wines of the country, as well as the best sample of Odessa black. A Riedel glass was chosen for the best Odessa black. The choice was not easy. Twelve wine experts tasted 305 wine samples for several days.

The best example of the Odessa Black variety was the wine presented by the Gigineishvili Wine House from Vinnitsa. It was for this wine that a special Riedel glass was selected by a group of experts from all over Ukraine. Winemakers, experts, sommeliers chose glass # 4 from the Performance collection out of 9 options.

Riedel is a producer of glasses for all world wines: Bordeaux, Cabernet, Chardonnay and so on. The entry into this list of the Ukrainian autochthonous (i.e. local) variety is recognition of both the variety itself and the Ukrainian winemakers who cultivate it. We would like to congratulate our Ukrainian autochthon with the first official glass!

In addition, we received 2 medals: Gold Medal - Aliberne Reserve Limited Edition 2018 and Silver medal - Rkatsiteli Orange 2018.

I myself had to try three quite different Odessa blacks today. This proves that the style of the variety itself has not yet been identified and formed, there were many young wines. In general, it is an intense, dense, with intense aromatics and mineral structure, a kind of animal. The glass that was chosen allows you to emphasize the fruitiness of the bouquet, to collect aromas into a single balanced taste and to reduce the brutal tannin of Odessa Black and make it more elegant.

Alexander Zorin, Vice President of Riedel in Eastern Europe

As for the competition for the best wine of Ukraine, the Grand Prix did not receive more than one sample. But many companies and winemakers were awarded several gold medals at once for the best samples in their categories.