Shabo remains only large enterprise in Ukraine burning grapevine for production processes

Wine producer Shabo (Odesa region) remains the only large enterprise in the country that uses grapevine as an alternative fuel to ensure production processes, the company's press service has said.

The press service said that since 2014, Shabo has been using a 1.1 MW boiler house for heating premises and wine-making processes, burning grapevines collected at the enterprise.

"We have huge vineyard areas (1,200 hectares) and tens of thousands of square meters of production facilities. This entire area needs to be heated and heat supplied for production processes. How to do this if it is impossible to deliver gas to the enterprise due to the peculiarities of the location? So we drew attention to our own resource – grapevine," the company said, quoting Chief Engineer Valentyn Klius.

According to the report, annually the enterprise collects about 1,200 tonnes of grapevine scion, which is pruned to regulate the growth and fruiting of vineyards. The obtained scion volumes are sufficient to heat tens of thousands of square meters of the production complex, the Shabo Wine Culture Center, as well as supply heat for wine-making processes.

In addition, the ash left after burning the vine is used by the company as fertilizer for the soil.

According to the company, the boiler house with a capacity of 1.1 MW was designed and built in 2011-2014 by Kriger (PJSC Zhytomyrremkharchomash, Zhytomyr). The heating season starts in August, with the start of grape processing, and ends in March-April, when the heating season ends.

Shabo is a large Ukrainian wine producer, founded in 2003. It is engaged in the cultivation and processing of grapes, the production and sale of alcoholic beverages.

Since 2005, the company has been producing cognac and brandy, and since 2013 Shabo grape vodka. The production capacity of the complex, which occupies more than 10,000 square meters, provide a full cycle of production of strong alcoholic beverages of grape origin.

The Shabo product range is presented in all regions of Ukraine, as well as in Georgia, Israel, China, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Belgium, France, Denmark, the Czech Republic, the United States, Brazil, Canada, Azerbaijan, Japan, Norway and the U.K.

The processing capacity of the company per season is more than 20,000 tonnes of red and white grapes. Wine storage Shabo has a total area of about 10,000 square meters. Annually, Shabo produces 50 million bottles a year, a total of about 80 product names. Nine production lines are involved in bottling.

According to the public register of legal entities and sole proprietors, the ultimate beneficiary of Shabo Industrial and Trade Company LLC is Vazha Iukuridze, the ultimate beneficiaries of Agrofirma Shabo LLC (both are located in Odesa region, village of Shabo) are Iukuridze and Bela Cholikidze.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua