The first wine city in Russia and even the world, called “Belyi Mys” (White Cape) will launch in the city of Gelendzhik on the Black Sea by the end of this year. This was reported by gastronom and project manager Dmitry Levizky in an interview with the news agency RIA Novosti. Initially, the project was planned to be presented in stages, as Levizky explained, but this idea was later abandoned:
“Until the last moment, we planned to open the city in stages, we wanted to start with two objects: our enoteca with the largest collection of Russian wines and a café bakery on the Strandpromenade by the gastronom Arkady Nowikov. They should be put into operation in the spring. But recently, we made the difficult decision not to start in stages. We don’t want to lure people into the ‘entrance hall’ when the rest is still under construction, even if it is a ‘great entrance hall’. That’s why the entire complex is now being opened – we plan to present it by the end of the year.”
Levizky also emphasized that there is no comparable project not only in Russia, but also worldwide. In Bordeaux, there is a wine center with an attached museum, restaurant and store, but it is four or five times smaller. Therefore, the Russian winemakers had to start from scratch – there were no role models for them in this project. And then there are the Western sanctions – a part of the equipment they expected had to be replaced, as it came from the West.
Now, the area of the wine city on the sea exceeds 40,000 square meters. It will house a wine laboratory, a 900 square meter wine library, a museum dedicated to the Russian wine industry and other facilities. The wine city “White Cape” is expected to host between 3,000 and 5,000 guests per day during the peak season. The newspaper Kommersant writes about the project:
“Dmitry Levizkij explained that a school for sommeliers, winemakers and wine growers will be opened in the wine city, where educational programs from the wine market experts will be presented. This school will also offer special courses. The laboratory center on the territory of White Cape offers the possibility to perform more than 300 different types of tests. Within its scientific activities, the laboratory will also conduct research in the field of wine products and offer possible solutions for improving wine quality.