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Colonists come to Bessarabia

Ukrainian Danube Bessarabia, located in the south of Odesa region, is a region with a rich history, Mediterranean climate and a unique demographic composition of the population. The region is called the interfluve because it is located between the two rivers Danube and the Dniester and is washed by the warm waters of the Black Sea.

The Thracian kingdom in Ancient Greece, Mysia during the time of the Roman and the Byzantine Empire, the Ongle during the time of Great Bulgaria, the Ottoman and Russian Empires - and this is not a complete list of names and states present at different times on these blessed lands. Even today you can see the Trojan Shafts - the borders of the Roman Empire, built by the emperor Troyan.

The history of the colonists in the lands of Bessarabia begins in the second half of the 18th century, when immigrants come to these lands, scorched by the sun, where nomadic Nogai tribes lived before. Germans, French, Greeks, Bulgarians, Gagauz, Albanians and representatives of many other peoples settled on these lands, having received privileges and advantages.

In a very short time, this region from a scorched steppe turned into a blooming garden.

Bulgarians came here fleeing the Ottoman yoke in order to preserve their faith, language and history, traditions and culture.

The Plachkov family comes here along with other Bulgarian immigrants from northern Macedonia, where they lived at the foot of the Plachkovitsa mountain range. According to legend, the widow of perished who died at the hands of a Janissary in the fight for freedom of the haiduc with three young sons secretly crossed the Danube and settled in the village of Cheshma-Varuita (the first name of the Krynychne village), which is located on the shore of the largest lake in Ukraine - Yalpug - “Radiant Valley”ю

At the very beginning of the 19th-century serfdom still existed. But the Bulgarians, thanks to the guardianship of the Governor of Bessarabia, Ivan Nikitich Inzov, receive the status of free citizens - at that time “the status of the Colonists”. Colonists receive free education and medicine, land units, and are exempted from taxes for years.

Bulgarians colonists preserved and passed on to generations of Thracian skill winemakers, gardening, grow wheat, sheep grazed the unique ancient breed that cherish to this day.

The first photographs in the Plachkov family appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1905. 

This photograph shows the great-grandfather of the winery founder Plachkov Vasily Yakovlevich. He is depicted in the form of the wartime of the Russian-Japanese War. It is his portrait that will subsequently decorate the company logo and become recognizable.

He had three sons and two daughters. One of the sons, Plachkov Semyon Vasilyevich, is the grandfather of the winery founder.

Now in Krynychne village lives one of the largest and most powerful Bulgarian communities in Ukraine, with about four and a half thousand inhabitants. Everyone still speaks the Old Bulgarian dialect, which was preserved verbally from 1813, the year of the village foundation. Everyone still honours ancient traditions, cooks according to old recipes, reverently worship rituals. They were always distinguished by exorbitant industriousness and at all times have always tried to give their children a good education.

Ivan Vasilievich Plachkov, the founder of the family winery Kolonist, was born and raised in this village Krinichnoye in 1957. He believes that this land is rich in talented people and has great potential for development. Therefore, occupying the post of Minister of Energy and Coal Mining, as well as the Head of the Odesa Regional Administration, in the difficult 90s, Ivan Vasilyevich implements many social projects. He is engaged in the creation of an orphanage in the Odesa region, the restoration and reconstruction of the Odesa Opera House, the construction of a destroyed church in the Krynychne village, the creation of a nursing home in the village, the restoration of a rural clinic and many other projects. All these social projects are directly related to the depressed region for that time.

But the most important project, which aims to show the potential of the region and attract attention to it, is the foundation of a family winery, which Ivan Vasilyevich calls in honour of the Bulgarian colonists - "Kolonist". For almost 15 years of the existence of winery, the Kolonist conquered not only Ukraine but also abroad. Wines of Kolonist was able to conquer the hearts of Ukrainians, demanding English and sophisticated French.

Today, the Kolonist wine has become the hallmark of the diplomatic corps of Ukraine and delights the Ukrainian diaspora and even the descendants of the German colonists from Bessarabia in distant Canada.

“Kolonist” represents Plachkov family’s pride, the result of their ongoing devotion and the expression of  love and passion for the land and its generosity. The Plachkov family founded their own winery in 2005 in order to produce premium local wines.

Kolonist winery is situated in a famous Ukrainian wine producing region – Danubian Bessarabia (the South of Odessa region), where viticulture has been established since the Greeks and the Thracians first discovered these fertile soils.

“Kolonist” tooks its name from the Bulgarian colonists who inhabited this area in the XIX century. The founder and the owner of  the company – Ivan Plachkov – is a descendant of this nationality who made a great contribution into turning this burned steppe into a prosperous and fertile land.

Kolonist wines are made from grapes grown on the south-western slopes of the biggest fresh-water lake in Ukraine – Yalpug. Due to the slopes, vineyards receive double sun rays from the sun and reflected ones from the surface of the lake, they are also well blown around with the winds.

33 hectares of vines are pruned by the Guyot and Cordon methods, grow on the loam soils which are rich in minerals with deep layers of lime. This modern pruning systems provide low crop capacity, which in combination with with special terroir give high-quality grapes. Each grapevine bears only a few bunches (harvested manually) which has rich flavour and gives wine strength, harmony and elegancy. Geographical position at the same latitude with Bordeaux in France and Piedmont in Italy gives an excellent opportunity to grow grapes in perfect climate conditions.

The combination of a unique terroir, modern equipment from France, Germany and Italy and the traditional French 100-year-old oak barriques gives the Kolonist a right to be proud of its high-quality wines.

In 2007 a famous enologist from Bordeaux, France, Mr. Olivier Dauga joined Kolonist. He and his wife Kati Sokazo came into the process of honest wine-making with a great enthusiasm.

This cooperation appeared to be very successful and today Kolonist wines can be found not only in the best restaurants, various wine shops or wine bars in Ukraine, but  also in France, Great Britain and Poland.

Kolonist wines have been represented twice in the Parliament of UK, in the Embassies of Belgium, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece and Germany, in the Embassy of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In December 2011 an outstanding world wine expert Oz Clarke and top UK wine journalists highly estimated Kolonist wines.

Oz Clarke admitted that Danubian Bessarabia due to Kolonist will obtain its honorable place on the world wine map.

In 2013 at the World Wine Exhibition in London, organized by famous wine critics M. Bettane and Th. Desseauve, Kolonist  wines  signed in to the TOP three wines in the Wine Premier nomination.

Kolonist wines were awarded with honorary title "Commended" by the judges of one of the most influential competition "International Wine Challenge" which takes place annually in London: in December 2015 Cabernet Merlot 2013 received the award, in May 2018 - Shardone «Haut de gamme» 2016 and in May 2019 - Cabernet Merlot LX.

In 2017 Kolonist wines were represented to the best 12 British wines journalists and experts. The sparkling wine by the classical method of champagnization – Bisser – was represented for the first time. All wines were highly estimated and recognized.

Kolonist creates a brand of Ukrainian wine, making two wines from Ukrainian grape varieties: Sukholymanskyi white and Odeskyi black.

The winery focuses its attention on high-quality dry wines as well as produces semi-dry and sweet wines. Kolonist produces  approximately  280 000 bottles per year, which allows to pay more attention to the quality of wine and adopt new technologies and  innovations.