Pliogoria

The founders and owners of the family winery, Kirill and Yulia Zazulya, traveled through the finest vineyards of the Old World and Georgia to preserve and enhance the traditions of global viticulture and winemaking. In their search for the right terroir, soils, slopes, and altitudes, they found themselves on the very edge of the northern part of the Crimean Foothills, in the Bakhchisaray district of the peninsula. There they discovered 20 hectares of beautiful land, the genesis of which is Pliocene limestone dating back 2.5 to 5 million years. Of everything they saw and studied, they were particularly impressed and captivated by the archaic method of making wine in clay vessels — in Georgia, these are called qvevri. This winemaking tradition is over 8,000 years old. Specially for them, in the Georgian village of Shrosha, experienced potters crafted three dozen qvevri in 2017. Following the cherished traditions of viticulture, their estate grows grapevines using gentle, organic methods with elements of biodynamics, taking into account the phases of the moon, creating and preserving a unique biogeocenosis in the vineyard that highlights the local terroir. The plot features a hilly terrain with a small plateau and a northern exposure, which helps avoid excessive sunlight. The Pliocene era and the hilly-mountainous landscape gave the name to their family winery — thus "Pliogoria" was born. They selected unique technical grape varieties from the Black Sea basin, with the first seedlings planted in December 2017.