Frumushika-Nova is both a winery and a name of a village in Bessarabia, in the middle of Europe’s largest steppe, an area of 23,000 ha. Once a Rumanian village which was destroyed in 1946 by Soviet authorities, it is now finally regaining its true potential.

In 2006 Alexander Palariev, father of current winemaker Vladimir, began constructing Frumushika-Nova winery with a rural tourism centre attached, reviving historical local craftsmanship traditions. The new centre was built on the destroyed village.

Unique terroir

“A rare climate, a rich history, a mixture of cultures and tastes makes Ukrainian Bessarabia a powerful gastronomic region in Eastern Europe,” says winemaker Vladimir Palariev.

Thanks to Bessarabia’s unique terroir – a lot of sun, strong winds and location in the middle of steppe allows to make wines as natural as possible. That allows grapes to maintain varrietal purity.

Frumushinka-Nova vineyards occupy almost 10 hectares of land. Varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon as well as local Sukholymanskyi white, Citron Magarach (Citronny Magaracha) and Ukraine’s flagship Odesa Black are grown at the vineyard.

“Our winemaking is about quality, traceability and the use of modern principles of sustainability. Our vines are not treated with herbicides and pesticides, and in technology we also use only organic approaches to wine protection,” says Palariev.

The winemaker

Vladimir Palariev is a Ukrainian winemaker who has graduated Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies obtaining the master’s degree in winemaking. Vladimir has learned and practiced winemaking in many wineries around the world. As a result, he has a modern and creative approach to craft wines from both local and international grape varieties.

Chizay is the flagship winery in the Carpathian mountains, and one of the leading wineries in Ukraine. Wines have been made at the Chizay hills ever since 17. century. Today Chizay has 272 hectares of its own vineyards and its wine are only made from its own harvest.

The Carpathian Terroir is excellent for making quality wines due to its mild climate, hills of volcanic origin, sufficient heat and moisture. Soil, full of minerals and micronutrient elements adds a unique taste to the grapes, and the wine gains a very special nature.

Sustainable development

Chizay Winery is gradually replacing cars and equipment with electric ones and plans to completely replace the entire vehicle fleet. The use of solar energy in the Chateau is under development. The bottling and labelling departments, warehouses and offices will be completely switched to solar energy.

Chateau Chizay vineyards are a healthy ecosystem and also home to fauna – pheasants, hares, foxes, roe deer and other animals live safely on the plantations.

Well-known varieties

Chizay has number of different grape varieties, many of them known all over the world – Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc and some very distict in the Pannonian wine region such as Pink Traminer, Rhine Riesling, Muscat Ottonel and Zweigelt.

Chizay Winery is not just a winery but also a complex with wine tasting room, museum, restaurant and a mini-hotel.

Chizay vineyards

Ukrainian wines

Ukrainian sparkling wine

Ukrainian sparkling wine

Ukrainian ribbon

Chizay Cuvee