Senator Ponomarev’s wife plunged into premium wine
The family of the co-owner of Okeanrybflot invested in winemaking. The family of the co-owner of the Okeanrybflot fishing holding and Senator Valery Ponomarev has a project in winemaking. His wife Ekaterina Ponomareva received 50% of the Krasnodar economy with more than 170 hectares of land, which plans to produce 1.5-2 million bottles of wine per year in the premium segment. However, according to experts, such sales volumes can be achieved no earlier than three years after the start of production.
Ekaterina Ponomarev, who is considered the wife of the senator and co-owner of the Okeanrybflot fishing holding Valery Ponomarev, received 50% in Ordo LLC, which is engaged in viticulture in the Krymsky district of the Krasnodar Territory. Changes in the composition of the Ordo participants were made on February 8, follows from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. 25% of the company is owned by CEO Ivan Solovyov and Invent LLC by Alexei Izmailov.
Ivan Solovyov explained to Kommersant that Ordo is planting young vineyards of European varieties. The total land area is 174 hectares, it is also planned to build a winery with a capacity of 1.5–2 million bottles per year. According to Mr. Solovyov, it is planned to start producing wine in 2025, the product will be positioned in the premium segment. He did not comment on the deal with Ekaterina Ponomareva, Kommersant failed to contact her. In “Okeanrybflot” “Kommersant” did not answer.
Okeanrybflot is one of the largest fish producers in Russia. The volume of catch quotas is estimated at more than 280 thousand tons per year. The revenue of Okeanrybflot JSC in 2021 increased by 12%, to 19.47 billion rubles, net profit was 5.42 billion rubles. Valery Ponomarev ranked fifth in the Forbes ranking of civil servants with the highest incomes in 2021 with 4.18 billion rubles.
Ordo’s stated plans look ambitious for a winery in the premium segment, Kommersant’s interlocutors in the industry note. So, Chateau de Talu Olga Tkacheva, who is considered the wife of the ex-head of the Ministry of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev, manages 101 hectares of vineyards and produces 1.6 million bottles a year. The area of the vineyards “Galitsky and Galitsky” by Sergei Galitsky is about 110 hectares, “Divnomorskoye Estates” – 47 hectares, according to the Krasnostop catalog. The Gai-Kodzor winery, which is associated with Roman Abramovich on the market, has about 87 hectares of vineyards. And the structures of the co-owner of the Delo Group of Companies, Sergei Shishkarev, can start producing wine on 45 hectares near the village of Raevskaya, Krasnodar Territory.
Alexander Stavtsev, head of the WineRetail information center, says that the Krymsky region has a promising terroir for premium winemaking, and the land is cheaper than in the coastal part of the Krasnodar Territory. According to his calculations, about 5 thousand seedlings will be required per 1 hectare for the chosen concept, with an average price for European ones of $ 2-3 per piece (149.4-224.1 rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate), and to bring the vineyard to fruiting, it is required to invest another 3-5 million rubles. per 1 ha. Thus, the total cost of planting vineyards on all 174 hectares can be estimated at about 1 billion rubles. excluding investment in the construction of the winery.
Fanagoria CEO Petr Romanishin says that there is a demand for premium wines, but their creation requires significant investments in technology and a long time for production. Ladoga Development Director Dmitry Isachenkov adds that given the growing popularity of Russian wine, the project may attract interest, and successful sales require stable quality, an acceptable price and a marketing budget. According to Mr. Stavtsev, with a retail price for a basic line of wines in the range of 500 rubles. up to 1 thousand rubles per bottle, under current market conditions, sales of 1.5-2 million bottles per year can be achieved approximately three years after the start of production.
According to Rosalkogolregulirovanie, in 2022 the production of still wines increased by 9.65%, to 32.69 million decaliters, and sparkling wines – by 25%, to 16.1 million decaliters. In January 2023, 1.59 million decalitres of still and 827.5 thousand decalitres of sparkling wines were produced, which is about 46% and 36% more than a year earlier. The import of all wine, RBC reported, in Russia increased by about 10% in 2022, to more than 405 million decaliters, despite the difficulties with logistics after the start of the NWO in Ukraine.
