WILL UKRAINE LOSE ITS WINE?
By ANDREW JEFFORD
Is Ukraine beeing losing its most significant wine-producing region ?
After an investigation on Crimea in Ukraine and Russia Andrew Jefford thinks it is quite possible in the DECANTER newsletter issued on Monday March 17, 2014.
Under Ukrainian law, yesterday’s referendum is illegal; its results will not be recognised internationally; sanctions will follow. Russia, though, is in control of the peninsula. Since no party wishes to see an armed conflict there, it is hard to envision the Crimea making a return to the Ukrainian fold, no matter how fervently its Ukrainian and Tatar minorities might wish for this.
There are many regions of the world where international recognition or restitution of re-assigned borders is a diplomatic nicety which must wait decades for resolution. The situation in the Crimea, in fact, is an unusually complicated one, as I discovered last week in attempting to assess the feelings of local growers, as well as discuss Crimea with fellow wine journalists in both Kiev and Moscow. (suite…)