In the picturesque valley of Balaklava, striking with its original and rare beauty of landscapes, near the legendary Sapun Mountain, spread Vineyards «Golden Balka».
Winemakers of French Champagne argue that if the technology of champagne production can be adopted and used anywhere in the world, the conditions in which the vine grows, to recreate almost impossible. In French there is even a special term «terroir» (terroir), which describes the complex of necessary soil and climatic characteristics: relief, soil composition, temperature, wind and the whole environment surrounding the «Champagne» vineyard. «The flavor of terroir» is all those unique nuances in the wine that are provided directly by the soil on which the vines grow. In good sparkling wines, the soil always «speaks». The vine draws its vitality and character from the soil, because it has the ability to show the «flavor» of the earth to a much greater extent than any other plant. To create champagne of the highest quality requires exceptional conditions — a special microclimate. The valley of the «Golden Balka» has just such a microclimate. It is not for nothing that this place is called «Crimean Champagne».
Here nature itself helps, and agronomists, working hard and hard in the vineyard, strive to create all the conditions for the birth of high quality sparkling wine, because 90% of sparkling wine is the grapes themselves and only 10% is the art of the winemaker.
The terroirs of «Golden Balka» and Champagne province are very similar: the territory of the Crimean Champagne was covered by the sea more than 70 million years ago, which explains the modern composition of the soil. Chalk sediments provide the vineyards of this region with good drainage and richness of mineral tones that make the best Champagne wines so interesting. Therefore, Balaklava champagne is not inferior in richness of flavor to its French «relatives».
Balaklava valley is a magical place. It concerns not only the atmosphere of peace reigning in the vineyards, but also the composition of the soil. The soils of the Golden Balka are unique, brown carbonate soils with lime content of 41-45%, representing limestone deposits of the period when there was still the bottom of the Tethys ocean. In the words of Prince Lev Golitsyn: «Soils of lime ignite wine with fire». Besides, «Zolotaya Balka» is located in a unique place: at the junction of the Black Sea, mountainous Crimea and Crimean steppe. The proximity of the Black Sea is an excellent temperature regulator for Zolotaya Balka.
The average annual temperature is 12°C (10.0°C in Champagne province). The sum of active temperatures for the year is 3900 ° C. The ecosystem of protected forest mountain massifs surrounding Zolotaya Balka is also an important factor.
The territory of Zolotaya Balka is the best place in Ukraine for growing champagne grapes. By its qualitative characteristics the grapes here are the closest to the grapes of French Champagne, and Balaklava sparkling wine can rightfully be called champagne.
Sparkling wines of TM «Zolotaya Balka» are not only the Balaklava Valley and the territory of Crimean Champagne with its unique soil, but also history, philosophy of the highest quality champagne, people’s labor, the art of agronomists and winemakers.
Crimean winemaking is more than two thousand years old. This industry began to develop thanks, first of all, to the Greeks, who founded several cities-colonies on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. The tradition was forgotten in the Ottoman period, and since then it has been in decline for a long time. Balaklava sparkling wine began to be produced here much later — in 1889, under the leadership of Prince Golitsyn, who resumed winemaking traditions on an industrial scale. Thanks to his efforts, Balaklava champagne became a welcome «guest» at royal balls and receptions, competing with its French «counterpart». The territory that was first planted with vineyards back in the nineteenth century is now home to the extensive farm of the Zolotaya Balka agro-firm.
Agronomists of TM «Zolotaya Balka» from the very first day of budding carefully protect it, applying all agrotechnical methods necessary to ensure that the necessary harvest of the highest quality was obtained. Since the beginning of August, the whole Crimean Champagne languishes in anticipation — winemakers eagerly follow the ripening of the grateful grape berry so that the wine turned out fine and harmonious. At the end of August, the first grapes come directly from the fields for processing. For the production of sparkling wines and champagne, the best fractions of juice are selected, the so-called «grape juice» of no more than 500 liters from a ton of grapes. Each grape variety is processed separately in order to produce varietal champagne wine materials.
After the must (soxamotek) becomes transparent as a result of filtration, it is sent for fermentation, which is carried out on special wine yeast cultures. At the end of fermentation, clarification and resting, the obtained champagne wine materials are treated according to the developed recipes in order to give crystal transparency.
Varietal champagne wine materials are combined into blends in a ratio that allows to obtain further sparkling wines recognizable by their «handwriting». Only now blends are transferred for champanization. In «Zolotaya Balka» the acratophoric method of sparkling wine preparation is applied. According to French winemakers, the process of fermentation in acratophores allows to better preserve the flavor of grapes and freshness of grape berries, which are poorly preserved in bottle aging. It is the acratophorous method that allows to preserve the fine taste and aroma of Muscat White and Muscat Pink wines produced by Zolotaya Balka. They are distinguished by the unsurpassed aroma of rose petals, rich taste of exotic fruits. After fermentation, cooling and filtration, sparkling wines are poured into new bottles with subsequent control ageing. After packaging the products of «Zolotaya Balka» are sent to the shelves of stores so that the true connoisseurs of the Crimean Champagne product could enjoy the unique taste and aroma.