Published: 5 December, 2007, 07:59
Edited: 5 December, 2007, 07:59
As Sochi prepares for the 2014 Winter Olympics, organisers are making sure fans are able to raise a glass to any medal success. Locals are producing their own wine for the occasion, which should be in peak condition by the time the games begin.
Olympic wine for Olympic champions. Hundreds of oak barrels containing this year's grape harvest have been stashed away so they can mature in time to be cracked open to celebrate victory or to drown sorrows.
Olympic is not the wine's official name, the brand belongs to the Olympic Committee, but one of Sochi’s wine makers has already applied to become an official supplier to the Sochi Winter Games.
Wine factory manager Valery Gutiev said he'd written to Olympic Committee asking if he could make a champagne for the medalists.
“So the winners can be honoured with champagne as has traditionally been the case in the history of sport and wine making,” Gutiev said.
The Games may be a long way off, but experts say seven years is the right time for a wine to age.