Sergey Galitsky brought a shot glass to his wallet

Its premium wine will be delivered to restaurants and boutiques.
Simple has become the exclusive distributor of wines “Galitsky and Galitsky”, according to Instagram of the wine brand. Anatoly Korneev, vice president of Simple, confirmed this - as did a person familiar with the leadership of Galitsky and Galitsky.

The Galitsky and Galitsky brand belongs to the Russian Terroir company, according to Rospatent. 51% of it belongs to Sergei Galitsky (before marriage - Harutyunyan), the founder of the Magnit retail chain, and 49% to another Sergey Galitsky, who, according to two acquaintances of both, is the first wife of his brother. The representative of "Galitsky and Galitsky" declined to comment. Vedomosti failed to contact the businessmen themselves.

Galitsky has not been engaged in retail for about two years - in February 2018 he sold almost all of his stake in Magnit, 29%, to VTB for 138 billion rubles. In addition to Magnit, he also had the production of confectionery, toilet paper, plastic bags and other goods - the Constell Group company, which supplies the goods to Magnet. She did not enter into a deal with VTB, says a former employee of the company. VTB Press Service declined to comment on this matter. Galitsky is the main owner of the Krasnodar football club, the site says that the Constell Group is its general sponsor.

The Galitsky vineyards occupy 68 hectares, they are in the Krasnodar Territory, near the village of Gostagaevskaya. The winery can produce 66,000 bottles a year, according to Simple. According to Korneev, Simple cooperates only with the best farms, "Galitsky and Galitsky" is just such a case. The vineyards are located on one of the best terroirs of the region, and the main winemaker of this project, Alexei Tolstoy, at the company knows about the wines “Markotch Estate,” which Simple also sells.

Wines will be sold in the own wineries of the importer SimpleWine (there are 38 of them - in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Rostov-on-Don) and the Grand Cru restaurant, continues Korneev. White and red costs at least 1990 rubles in SimpleWine, rose wine - at least 1790 rubles. This wine is premium, according to the Director General of the Union of Sommeliers of Russia Arthur Sargsyan, it is made from international varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, it has a good price-quality ratio. In the price category about 2000 rubles. no more than 3-5% of wines in Russia are sold per bottle, says Leonid Popovich, president of the Union of Winegrowers and Winemakers.

It is planned to cooperate with other wine boutiques and restaurants in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and other large cities, Korneev promises, it was decided to focus on premium and specialized retail. Korneev believes that this is not a mass product.

There is a consumer for good wine at such a price, especially since Russian consumers are growing in interest in real wines made from Russian grapes, Crimean director general of Alma Valley Sergey Lebedev is sure. The brand “Galitsky and Galitsky” has good prospects, because a professional team works in this project, he said.

Simple is one of the largest wine importers in Russia. There are few Russian brands in her portfolio - about 2% of sales in money, this is an interesting and growing category, says Korneev. These are, in particular, Kuban wines - “Raevskoye”, Mantra (owned by family members of the Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov), “Markotkh Estate”, as well as the Crimean “Golden Beam”.

Fish & Meat restaurants periodically include Russian wines in the wine list, however, imported ones are still preferred, since with the same quality they can be cheaper - even 2 times, says network co-owner Sergei Mironov.

Wine production in Russia from 2015 to 2018 fell by a quarter - to 30.4 million decalitres, and imports grew by a third - to 22.6 million, according to the Federal State Statistics Service and the Federal Customs Service. About a third of the wine consumed is produced from domestic grapes, 40% comes from imported bottled wine and about a third is produced from imported wine material, according to the Union of Winegrowers and Winemakers.