Ukraine · Other producers

Craft Winery Biologist

Kyiv micro-estate making 2,000 to 3,000 bottles a year from under three hectares, farmed biodynamically from the ground up by a former wine trader turned grower.

The producer

Ihor Petrenko spent 25 years moving wine across borders before he planted his own vines outside Kyiv. Craft Winery Biologist now occupies two parcels, one in Lisnyky and one in Bezradychy, totalling fewer than three hectares. He grows Aligote, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi and produces between 2,000 and 3,000 bottles each year under the Pershotvir series, a name taken from the Ukrainian for the first creation. The first biodynamic vintage appeared in 2022, and the wines now reach buyers in Poland, the Baltic countries, Sweden, and Japan.

Petrenko farms without herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic chemistry. His biodynamic preparations include fermented herbs from more than twenty plant species, and his buried soil preparations go beyond the standard cow horn used in Biodynamic Preparation 500. In the cellar, all wines undergo six to ten days of skin contact with dried grape crests, spontaneous fermentation using indigenous yeast, and new oak ageing, with sulfur kept to a minimum. The Aligote Pershotvir is the wine with the fullest documented profile: lemon zest, green pear, wild herbs on the nose, firm mouth-watering acidity, and a clean mineral finish.

Known for

Biodynamic Aligote from suburban Kyiv parcels, fermented spontaneously with minimal sulfur and extended skin contact.

Notable facts

The story

Not Just a Horn

A journalist visiting the winery asked to see the biodynamic preparations. Petrenko walked her through the herb ferments, twenty-plus plant varieties including St. John's wort, celandine, clover, and nettle, before mentioning what was buried in the soil. Standard Biodynamic Preparation 500 calls for a cow horn packed with manure and left through winter. His was not just a horn. He had used the whole skull. He offered, without pause or ceremony, to show her: "Over here, behind the barn." The skull sat alongside the herb jars and the minimal sulfur protocol as one more deliberate choice in a winery built from the ground up on a specific idea of what farming should look like.

From the atlas

Craft Winery Biologist

At A Glance

The Producer

Ihor Petrenko spent 25 years moving wine across borders before he decided to grow it himself. He founded Craft Winery Biologist on two small parcels in the villages of Lisnyky and Bezradychy, both within reach of Kyiv, and planted Aligote, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi across fewer than three hectares combined. The winery produces between 2,000 and 3,000 bottles each year.

Petrenko farms biodynamically. Not gesturally: the preparations he applies to the soil include fermented herbs from over twenty species, among them St. John's wort, celandine, clover, and nettle, and his buried soil preparations go beyond the standard Biodynamic Preparation 500 horn. He released his first biodynamic vintage in 2022 under the name Pershotvir, a Ukrainian word meaning the first creation. Those bottles now reach buyers in Poland, the Baltic countries, Sweden, and Japan.

Place

Lisnyky and Bezradychy are villages on the outskirts of Kyiv, not appellation names on a wine map. Ukraine does not have a framework of classified growing regions equivalent to those in France or Germany, and Petrenko's parcels carry no formal appellation designation. The two sites together cover less than three hectares of ground close to a major European capital.

This is suburban viticulture in an unconventional wine country. Kyiv sits at roughly 50 degrees north latitude, a latitude more commonly associated with Champagne or the Mosel than with Mediterranean or Black Sea wine regions. Ripening here is a season-by-season achievement rather than a given, and the choice to farm without herbicides, pesticides, or synthetic chemistry adds pressure that certified conventional growers in the same latitude would not take on.

Soil And Site

The soil composition and aspect of the Lisnyky and Bezradychy parcels are not documented in available sources. What is documented is the farming approach applied to them: no herbicides, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilisers. Petrenko uses plant and mineral products in their place. The biodynamic preparations he applies to the soil, including fermented herb blends and buried whole preparations, are intended to support microbial life and root development rather than to suppress or correct.

Story

Petrenko's biography runs in two phases. For 25 years he worked in wine import and export, a professional role that gave him close knowledge of how wine moves from producer to market but kept him on the commercial side of viticulture. Roughly a decade ago he shifted direction, acquired land near Kyiv, and began farming it himself.

The decision to go biodynamic from the outset was a statement of intent, not a gradual conversion. Petrenko did not farm conventionally first and then transition. He built the winery around minimal intervention from the start: no added chemicals, spontaneous fermentation, minimal sulfur, long maceration with dried grape crests. In 2022 he released the Pershotvir series as the formal launch of that biodynamic commitment, named for the idea of a first creation. The wines reached international export markets within a year of that first release.

Vineyards And Cellar

Across both sites, Petrenko grows Aligote, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi without herbicides or pesticides. The biodynamic preparations applied to the soil include fermented herbs from more than twenty plant species. Standard Biodynamic Preparation 500 uses a cow horn; Petrenko buries whole cow skulls.

In the cellar, all wines undergo long maceration of six to ten days with dried grape crests added to the fermenting must. Fermentation is spontaneous, driven by indigenous yeast from the vineyard and cellar rather than inoculated commercial strains. New oak barrels provide a mild antiseptic environment that allows Petrenko to keep sulfur additions to a minimum. The combination of extended skin contact, spontaneous fermentation, and controlled sulfur use produces wines the winery describes as bright and aromatic, with strong character and a clean profile.

Wines

The Pershotvir series is the only named range in the portfolio, introduced with the 2022 vintage as the winery's first formal biodynamic release. The series includes Aligote, Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi, all produced under the same cellar protocol: six to ten days of skin contact with dried crests, spontaneous fermentation, new oak ageing, and minimal added sulfur.

Aligote is a white grape with naturally high acidity, grown historically across Burgundy and Eastern Europe and valued for its citrus-driven freshness. In the Pershotvir range it produces a wine with lemon zest and green pear on the nose, a thread of wild herbs, and a clean mineral finish pulled along by firm, mouth-watering acidity. The Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi are in production but do not yet have documented tasting profiles in available sources.

With fewer than 3,000 bottles released annually across the full range, individual wines are produced in very small quantities. The export route to Poland, the Baltic countries, Sweden, and Japan means a significant portion leaves Ukraine entirely.

In The Glass

The Aligote Pershotvir opens with lemon zest and green pear, then a lift of wild herbs. The acidity is pronounced and energetic, the kind to make the mouth water, not pucker. On the palate the wine stays dry and clean, with a mineral line running through to the finish. No residual sweetness, no evident oak weight despite the new barrel ageing, no sulfurous edge. The minimal sulfur protocol and indigenous yeast fermentation produce a wine that is alive and unencumbered.

The rest of the range follows the same cellar template: long skin contact, spontaneous fermentation, new oak, minimal sulfur. Across red varieties including Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Saperavi, that extended maceration builds colour and tannin extraction. The house style favours aromatic intensity and cleanliness over softness or approachability.

A Bottle To Understand It

Pershotvir Aligote is where to start. It is the wine in the range with a fully documented sensory profile: lemon zest, green pear, wild herbs, bright acidity, and a clean mineral close. Aligote is a high-acid white grape, and this bottle plays directly to that character without softening it. New oak is present in the cellar method but does not dominate the glass; the wine stays fresh and taut. For a producer defined by biodynamic farming, spontaneous fermentation, and very low intervention, the Aligote shows exactly what those choices taste like: direct, aromatic, and precise without obvious winemaking weight on top.

Anecdote

A journalist visiting Biologist visited the barn to see the biodynamic preparations. Petrenko walked her through the herb ferments, more than twenty plant varieties including St. John's wort, celandine, clover, and nettle, before mentioning the buried preparation. Standard Biodynamic Preparation 500 calls for a cow horn packed with manure and left in the soil through winter. Petrenko said his was not just a horn. He used the whole skull. He offered, matter-of-factly, to show her: "Over here, behind the barn." There was no pause for effect. The skull was simply part of what he did, filed alongside the herb jars and the minimal sulfur protocol as one more deliberate choice in a winery built from the ground up on a specific idea of how farming should work.

Final Word

Craft Winery Biologist is a micro-estate making a few thousand bottles a year from two small parcels near Kyiv, in a country with no established fine wine appellation framework. Ihor Petrenko chose to farm biodynamically from the start, release under a Ukrainian-language series name, and export to demanding northern European and Japanese markets within a year of his first biodynamic vintage. The Aligote is the clearest current window into what the winery produces: a high-acid, aromatic, mineral white made with minimal intervention and no concessions to ease.

Sources

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