Sauk-Dere

In 1937, Soviet Food Commissar Anastas Mikoyan toured limestone quarries near Krasnodar meant for storing canned goods. He made an impulsive decision that would outlast the Soviet Union itself: “To hell with canned goods—we’ll age wine here.” Eighty-seven years later, those 2.7 kilometers of tunnels still maintain 12-14°C year-round, sheltering Russia’s largest historic wine collection through Nazi occupation, Soviet collapse, and three bankruptcies.

The tunnels that survived everything

The Mikoyan decision triggered an industrial transformation. Workers carved 26 tunnels from shellstone quarries, removing 100,000 tons of limestone to create underground chambers at 24 meters depth. By 1939, the first wine cellar infrastructure took shape—facilities that Moscow Metro builders would later expand through 1973, adding 16 southern tunnels for champagne production.

The tunnels’ first test came during World War II. Nazi forces occupied the region, repurposing the cellars as a military hospital and ammunition depot. When Soviet forces liberated Krasnodar in 1943, vineyard restoration began amid demining operations. The infrastructure survived.

By 1952, the winery established what would become its most valuable asset: five special tunnels spanning 500 square meters, with 986 stone niches carved for wine storage. The first collection bottles were laid down—the beginning of what now holds 82,000 bottles dating from 1952 to present, including cognacs from Chechnya and wines from grape varieties that no longer exist.

Three bankruptcies, same tunnels

Gorbachev’s 1985 anti-alcohol campaign devastated Soviet wine regions. At Sauk-Dere, vineyards weren’t even cut down—they were simply abandoned and left to die. Production collapsed. By the 1990s, employees sold historic collection wines to fund salaries. The enterprise entered its first bankruptcy, concluding around 2007 when Myskhako winery acquired the assets.

The second bankruptcy cycle began in 2013. Myskhako itself faced debt troubles, and the Sauk-Dere subsidiary accumulated 730-758 million rubles in obligations to Rosselhozbank. Production fell from 40,000 decaliters in 2013 to 22,000 in 2014. Mikhail Nikolaev Jr., owner of neighboring Lefkadia Valley, became a shareholder in December 2014 and completed acquisition in 2015.

Nikolaev 300 million rubles in reconstruction, brought French consultants, and modernized the facility for méthode traditionnelle sparkling production. By 2018, the results showed: Sauk-Dere’s Magnatum Rosé Extra Brut scored 90/100 at the International Wine & Spirit Competition—the winery’s first significant international recognition.

But the third bankruptcy proved the most unusual. In late 2022, the 15th Arbitration Court of Appeal discovered that the 2016 settlement had been fraudulent. ООО Интерфин, which had purchased Sauk-Dere’s debt and granted an 81% discount, was itself affiliated with the winery. The same enterprise was effectively bankrupted twice on the same debt.

Strategic value finally recognized

What changed in 2023 was not the tunnels themselves but who acquired them. Alexey Sidyukov—a grain trading magnate through KrasnodarZernoProdukt—had already acquired Myskhako winery in 2021. He understood something previous owners had not: Sauk-Dere’s cool underground cellars provided exactly what his hot-climate Myskhako vineyards lacked for sparkling wine production.

In August 2023, Sidyukov’s ООО Терруары Саук-Дере acquired the assets for over 1 billion rubles. Within one month, his holding company financed a 785 million ruble settlement, finally clearing legacy debt that had accumulated across three decades.

In September 2024, the Krasnodar Arbitration Court approved the settlement agreement. For the first time in recent memory, Sauk-Dere emerged debt-free.

Climate arbitrage in the Kuban

Sidyukov’s strategy treats his wine holdings as complementary infrastructure rather than standalone investments. Myskhako’s coastal position near Novorossiysk produces excellent still wines from 266 hectares but lacks the cool temperatures needed for traditional-method sparkling production. Sauk-Dere’s inland limestone tunnels maintain 12-14°C naturally—ideal for the extended secondary fermentation that defines premium sparkling wine.

The 3 billion ruble investment pledge targets expansion on multiple fronts: vineyards from 137 hectares to over 2,000, production capacity from 3-4 million bottles to 11 million, and workforce nearly doubled with 200 additional employees. The winery’s ice wine program, based on Riesling, positions it among Russia’s few producers of this demanding style.

The historic collection remains a peculiar asset. Those 82,000 bottles—including Soviet-era wines from 1952 and cognacs from defunct Grozny distilleries—belong not to the private winery but to the Krasnodar Krai regional government, which took ownership during the first bankruptcy to protect them from sale. They remain stored in the private facility, valuable but legally unsellable.

Infrastructure that outlasts owners

Jancis Robinson visited in 2009 and called Sauk-Dere an “uncharted corner of wine world.” The description remains apt. The winery’s value lies not in brand recognition—minimal internationally—but in irreplaceable physical assets. No competitor can build 2.7 kilometers of naturally cooled limestone tunnels. No rival holds a collection documenting Soviet winemaking from 1952 forward.

Under Sidyukov’s ownership, Sauk-Dere finally has an owner whose strategic needs align with its unique capabilities. The tunnels that survived Mikoyan’s whim, Nazi occupation, Soviet collapse, and three bankruptcies have found their fourth owner in a century—and perhaps, for the first time, an owner who understands what they’re actually for.

Last updated: March 15, 2026