ANTINORI FAMILY TO THE AID HUMANITARIAN PROJECT IN KYRGYZSTAN IN CENTRAL ASIA: A FARM THAT OFFERS WINE, WORK, AND HOPE FOR LOCAL POPULATION

Sometimes wine rhymes with solidarity.
For several years now the Antinori family, one of the most famous names in Italian winemaking and an emblem of “Made in Italy” around the world, has been involved in an important humanitarian project in Kyrgyzstan in central Asia.
On the shores of Lake Issykul, at 1500 meters above sea level, Piero Antinori and the ex president of Volkswagen, Carl Hahn, have played a vital part in the creation of a Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling varieties vineyard. But this is not just any normal business venture.
The farm was designed primarily to provide work prospects for the local inhabitants who live in precarious economic conditions, and to whom Antinori now provides consulting and training in agronomy.
It all began in 1999 when Piero Antinori was contacted by Carl Hahn, then president of Volkswagen, and asked to become national consultant to the Kyrgyz Republic for the development of a humanitarian project with the goal of teaching the population, consisting primarily of nomads, a permanent agricultural model that could produce “finished” food products like wine, for example.
The farm, which has 8 hectares of vineyards, now includes a small and well stocked cantina with equipment exclusively from Italy. The first harvest was completed in 2002 and personally supervised by Albiera and Alessia Antinori.
In fact, the three daughters of the Marchese Antinori, Albiera, Allegra, and Alessia, are responsible for running the project. At least once a year they travel to Kyrgyzstan in order to catch up on the latest developments of the farm in the distant Asian land.
At the moment the project is still in an experimental phase, but it has a good possibility of expanding in the near future. The wines produced are destined to be sold exclusively in nearby countries like Russia and China.