Terroir and Technology: BelSU Shaping Future of Viticulture in Crimea and Beyond

Scientists from Belgorod State University have created a new map detailing the viticultural and winemaking regions of Crimea.

Professor Fyodor Lisetsky, of the Department of Nature Management and Land Cadastre at Belgorod National Research University (BelSU), presented the map, which was developed with careful consideration of the region’s landscape features.

“For the first time, we have aligned the boundaries of the winemaking zones with the landscape map of Plain Crimea, created by Professor Ekaterina Pozachenyuk of the Crimean Federal University in 2025,” Lisetsky told TASS. “Now we can scientifically substantiate exactly where the best Riesling will be produced, and where it’s best for perfect Cabernet.”

The alignment of the wine-growing zones with the landscape map of the Crimean Plains was carried out using research by Professor Ekaterina Pozachenyuk, head of the Department of Physical Geography, Oceanology and Landscape Studies at the Taurida Academy of the Crimean Federal University named after Vladimir Vernadsky.

BelSU scientists under Professor Lisetsky’s supervision have been researching the Crimean terroir and its influence on wine quality since 2010. Postgraduate student Kirill Babushkin, specialising in Land Management, Cadastre and Land Monitoring at the university’s Institute of Earth Sciences, and Arseny Poletayev, a senior lecturer in the Department of Geography, Geoecology and Life Safety and a candidate of geographical sciences, played an active role in the creation of the new map.

According to the researchers, the more precisely the terroir is defined, the easier it becomes to select a strategic direction for vineyard development. This, in turn, directly affects wine quality and its positioning in both the Russian and international markets.

By applying a new approach developed by young scientists – one that synthesises geographic, environmental and soil science data – Crimean winemakers will now be able to select sites for vineyard expansion based on sound scientific evidence rather than relying on chance. The 13 viticultural and winemaking regions identified by the researchers in Crimea now require further parameterisation of their natural characteristics and a clear identification of their unique attributes. This work will also help protect wine products associated with a specific geographical production region from counterfeiting and adulteration, in accordance with the Law “On Viticulture and Winemaking in the Russian Federation”, adopted in 2021.

The new map of viticultural and winemaking regions represents a key outcome of extensive research in the field of ampelopedology – the study of vineyard soils – carried out as part of a project supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Grant 25-27-00421).