The first vineyards around Yalta were planted in the early 19th century by Prince Lev Golitsyn and Count Mikhail Vorontsov, Governor general of Crimea, using imported grapes such as the Semillon, Aligote, Pedro Ximenez and Pinot varieties.

The Massandra cellars were the first to be built in tunnels underground to maintain a constant temperature of around 12 - 13 degrees C. This also had an unforeseen advantage - when revolution arrived in 1917 the wine stocks could be protected by simply walling up the galleries. In 1922 Stalin ordered the wines from all the tsar's palaces to be put under lock and key at Massandra, where wine production was re-started and continued over several generations under the Yegorov family. Just before the Nazi assault on Crimea in 1941, all the wine was removed to secret hiding places, and brought back after the German army had departed. The result is an unparalleled collection of wines going right back to some of the 19th century vintages. The shop at the Massandra cellars sells everything from very affordable to very expensive wines, so you can take your pick!

In 1828 Count Vorontsov ordered six hundred acres at Nikita, near Yalta, to be planted with Pinot, Verdot, Malbec and Merlot vines. The wines that followed took their name from the locality - Magarach, or natural spring. In 1873 some of these won the highest awards at the International Exhibition in Vienna. Particular attention was paid to the ageing process and the present day Magarach Institute claims to have a collection of over 21,000 bottles, including an 1836 vintage rose muscat.

At the eastern end of the Crimean coastline, on the plain not far from the wild volcanic Kara-Dag mountains, lies the resort of Koktebel. The wines bearing the same name are predominantly dessert wines ranging from ruby ports to fine madeiras. The latter are aged for between 3 and 15 years and spend a part of that time in barrels outside in the baking hot July sun (right), continuing the tradition begun hundreds of years ago, when it was noticed that wines transported from the island of Madeira to the New World gained softness and flavour as a result of passing through the heat of the tropics.

The main cellars are underground away from both the sun and the winter chill. As you literally walk into the hillside and the huge doors close behind you, the temperature drops by more than half in the space of a second or two. After the summer heat outside it's like walking into a cool-box, and the contrast can make it feel quite chilly. Take a pullover if you go in summer!

Right Bottles of Kara-dag port lagered in the cellars of the Koktebel winery

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