Wine Law

1 The Russian Law on Viticulture and Winemaking of 2019 Nancho Nanchev 1 1. Introduction; 2. The Course of the Legislative Process Related to the New Federal Law on Viticulture and Winemaking; 3. Distinctive Features of the Federal Law on Viticulture and Winemaking; 4. Conclusion. 1. Introduction The European Mediterranean is flanked by two remarkable, although very different countries, having nothing in common unless the fact that they trace the limits of a charming realm. In the extreme West Portugal has everything that makes it Mediterranean – climate, landscape and heritage. It is Rome’s Atlantic façade at its best – unique and splendid. The olive groves combine with baroque and mediaeval monuments in a countryside of colours. On the opposite side of this expanse is Russia, a whole continent on its own, which protracts the European civilisation ten thousand kilometers to the East, on the back side of the globe, up to China, Japan and America. Russia’s southern frontier in Europe is washed by the Black sea, a peculiar Eastern antechamber of the Mediterranean that combines the North and the South in a pool of separate identity and significance. The culture and heritage on these shores stem from the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) with its Greek flavor and accidental fate. From the time of the tsars the Black sea shores are appreciated for their mild climate and their exotic in comparison to the typically Nordic Russia appearance. Their specific importance was well known already in the Antiquity, when numerous Greek settlements sustained for centuries unbroken links first with the Aegean Greece and then with the imperial medieval Constantinople. Still at that time the North and Eastern Black sea shores supplied valuable goods and had strong attractive appeal for the invaders. Vineyards with perfect Mediterranean aspect stood already on slopes overlooking the 1 Legal expert.