TOP 24 BEST WINES OF UKRAINE, a professional tasting by Masters of Wine from Great Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland, will be held in Warsaw on July 28-29, 2024. Influential international experts — Masters of Wine — will evaluate the best Ukrainian wines and discuss the prospects of their promotion on the international markets.

This international event is initiated by Wines of Ukraine within the implementation of the international cooperation programme “EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation”, co-financed by EU and Germany.

Among the experts there is Sarah Abbott MW, member of the WTA panel of judges 2022-2023.

Why is this project extremely important for Ukrainian winemaking? 

The purpose of the project is to change the global perception of Ukrainian wine, increase awareness of the Wines of Ukraine brand, and promote export development for Ukrainian winemakers. “We have engaged six Masters of Wine, well-known professionals from key European markets, which are extremely interesting for our exports, to participate in this tasting. The experts will conduct a blind tasting of about 100 Ukrainian wines, after which the TOP 24 (and the shortlist of the TOP 12) of the best Ukrainian wines of 2024 will be announced. Selected by the well-known experts, these wines will set a benchmark for quality, representing Ukrainian winemaking on the international and local markets throughout the year,” comments Svitlana Tsybak, representative of Wines of Ukraine, the Head of the Ukrainian Association of Craft Winemakers and CEO of Beykush Winery.

Who are the experts that will select TOP 24 BEST WINES OF UKRAINE?

Wojciech Bonkowski MW, Poland

Wojciech Bońkowski is a Master of Wine and a wine writer from Poland. Simultaneously he developed a career in wine, working in London before returning to Poland where he published eight books and founded the country’s leading wine website, Winicjatywa (2012), and wine magazine, Ferment (2017). The Ferment media group now also includes a wine events agency, wine school, and publishing house. He was President of the Polish Wine Trade Association (2015–22) and is a member of the Académie Internationale du Vin. He currently focuses on the wines of Italy, Greece, Austria, Central and Eastern Europe. Wojciech is the man, whose support and efforts will make the TOP 24 BEST WINES OF UKRAINE project possible. Quite recently, together with Chris Yorke, CEO Austrian Wine, Wojciech visited Zakarpattia on a consulting and educational mission, having tasted several dozen Ukrainian wines in order to evaluate their quality and potential for export markets. In fact, during that visit the idea of ​​organising a larger-scale tasting and engaging famous Masters of Wine was born.

Wojciech believes that Ukrainian wines have a great, untapped potential on international markets, due to their unique character and quality: “I’ve been following the progress of Ukrainian winemaking for quite a while. During our visit to Zakarpattia in April 2024, I was really struck by the relentless spirit and positive vision of the wine people I met. I consider it both a personal honour and a duty to contribute to their international success. And there is no better way to spread the word than through a great panel of experienced tasters and Masters of Wine who will examine the current production from all of Ukraine’s winemaking regions and select the most exciting wines that can be further promoted at wine events, masterclasses, and reviews on key markets. The final Top24 has the opportunity to perform a very strong representation for Ukraine’s wine sector, while also inspiring other producers in the country to join the next editions and the collective effort to strengthen Ukrainian wine’s image abroad”.

Sarah Abbott MW, United Kingdom

Sarah Abbott became a Master of Wine in 2008, after ten years of working in sales, sourcing, education and marketing roles for specialist fine wine importers of Burgundy, Bordeaux and Italian wines. Sarah writes about wine for diverse publications including timatkin.com, the World of Fine Wine, and Swirl’s company blog. She is a twice-listed finalist in the Roederer wine-writing awards and oversees the content strategy and creation for all client campaigns.

Richard Bampfield MW, United Kingdom

Richard Bampfield passed the Master of Wine Exam in 1990. He regularly guides groups of students and press on visits to Bordeaux and Burgundy, and has been actively involved in the promotion of English wines. He is now probably best known for his work writing tasting notes and evaluating wines for Lidl and is a regular presenter on 67 Pall Mall’s TV channel, www.67pallmall.tv.  Richard is a past Chairman of the Association of Wine Educators and was the European Champagne Ambassador 2009.

Cees van Casteren MW, Netherlands 

Cees spent 14 years in fine chemicals and oenological specialties. Cees started writing about wine in 2004. Since then he has written twelve books and some 600 articles on wine and food. His most recent book is Anyone Can Taste Wine. Cees is a judge at international wine competitions, and WSET Educator. He also runs his own independent wine consultancy and training business. Cees has twice been named Dutch Vinologist of the Year. He currently is Chairman of the United Vinologists, the main association of wine professionals in The Netherlands.

Caro Maurer MW, Germany

Caro Maurer MW has been writing about wine since the early 1990s. She graduated from the course to obtain WSET diploma level five as Germany’s top student. She was the first woman from the German-speaking countries to become a Master of Wine in 2011. Now she shares her working time between the General-Anzeiger, the daily newspaper published in Bonn, and as a writer for Germany’s leading food and wine magazine, Der Feinschmecker (The Gourmet), and the famous British wine magazine Decanter. Caro also works as a wine educator for WSET Diploma across Europe and hosts educational seminars and tastings for numerous wine associations and judges in international wine competitions; at Decanter WWA in London, she is a panel chair.

Heidi Mäkinen MW, Finland

Heidi is Portfolio Manager and Partner of a Finnish wine importing company Viinitie. She became the Best Sommelier of Finland and the second in Chaîne des Rôtisseur’s Jeunes Sommeliers of the World in 2015, and the eight Best Sommelier of the World in 2016. She was selected as one of The Future 50 by WSET and IWSC in 2019. She is also currently the President of the Finnish Sommelier Association and a member of ASI Sommeliers Contests Committee. In addition to her daily job, Heidi teaches WSET at all levels, judges in various international wine competitions, offers consultation, and gives presentations on wine both in Finland and around the world.

What are the prospects and benefits for selected TOP 24 wines? 

“This is a dream project for Ukrainian winemaking and a wow-project for our team,” says Yevgenia Nikolaichuk, Wines of Ukraine ambassador and project leader for the Silpo retail network. “Cooperation with the European Masters of Wine, who will choose the TOP 24 BEST WINES OF UKRAINE for the 2024 season, is an incredible and unique opportunity for Ukrainian winemakers to receive a professional and detailed assessment of the export potential of their wines from well-known experts. In addition, special corners with winning wines that will appear in Silpo stores will make them conveniently available to the local consumer”.

TOP 24 BEST WINES is a marketing project intended to influence the image of Ukrainian wine on the domestic and foreign markets through the validation by expert international professionals.

All wineries meeting certain criteria are invited to participate in the project. It refers exclusively to licensed wineries that already export their wines or intend to do so in the near future.

Please visit the Wines of Ukraine website (https://ukr.wine/top24/) for more details.

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The international cooperation programme “EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation” is co-financed by the European Union and the German Government and is implemented by the German federal company “Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH”. The programme aims to support Ukraine’s economic resilience, recovery and growth, create better conditions for the development of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as support innovation and exports. Read more: www.eu4business.org.ua

The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of Wines of Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union, the German Government, or GIZ.

#eu4business, #StandForUkraine, #gizSME

Photos provided by Wines of Ukraine

• Austrian wine
• Caro Maurer
• Cees van Casteren
• Chris Yorke
• Heidi Mäkinen
• Masters of Wine
• Richard Bampfield
• Sarah Abbott
• Ukrainian winemaking
• Warsaw
• Wines of Ukraine
• Wojciech Bonkowski