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Andrey Romanov
Founder & Owner
Andrey Romanov built and sold two significant Russian wineries within a decade, extracting over $40 million before pivoting to luxury hospitality. Forbes Russia called him 'the first among Russian winemakers who dared to put his name on a label' — yet his most telling characteristic is what he didn't say when both buyers rebranded his properties.
Transformation Arc
Andrey Romanov has extracted more than 3 billion rubles from Russian wine. He built two significant wineries in the span of a decade, sold both to major corporations, and declined to explain why to anyone. Forbes Russia once called him “the first among Russian winemakers who dared to put his name on a label.” What they might have added is that he also became the first to watch that name disappear twice—when his buyers rebranded both properties—and say nothing at all.
Developed winemaking is the prestige of the country. It is a national treasure. It is high technology in agriculture.
The Family Tradition #
The Romanov wine story began in 1994 at the Mirny factory in Krasnodar Krai, where Andrey established a family sparkling wine operation. Four years later, in 1998, he released the first “Romanov” champagne—making him the first Russian winemaker to brand wine under his own name. For a decade, this remained a foundation-building exercise, the quiet cultivation of expertise and reputation that would later fund larger ambitions.
In 2007, everything scaled. Andrey purchased approximately 1,000 hectares on the Taman Peninsula, the narrow land bridge between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov that has attracted winemakers since Greek colonists planted vines there in the sixth century BC. The terroir promised quality. The acreage promised scale.
Building Two Empires #
By 2009, Andrey had opened Russki Azov winery with a 30 million euro investment. That same year, he began planting 231 hectares with Italian and Austrian vine varieties—a multi-year commitment that would not reach completion until 2013. The project demanded patience: premium vines need years before their first commercial harvest, and he was building infrastructure to match. Russki Azov eventually housed 2 million bottles of capacity and 3,000 square meters of underground cellars.
Simultaneously, he was developing a second property that would bear his name: Villa Romanov. This winery would become Russia’s first purpose-built wine tourism center when it opened in 2017, designed from inception to marry production with hospitality.
The quality was genuine. Eight of Andrey’s wines entered Arthur Sargsyan’s authoritative “Russian Wines 2017-2018” guide. The scale was industrial. The vision was vertically integrated. And then he started selling.
The Exits #
In 2016, Andrey sold Russki Azov to Ariant, a major Russian wine and spirits group, for 1.5 billion rubles. The timing coincided with Villa Romanov’s first harvest—as one empire closed, another was just beginning to produce. He declined media interviews about the sale.
The following year brought crisis. Villa Romanov recorded revenue of 57.6 million rubles against a net loss of 53 million—a negative 92 percent margin. Pavel Titov of Abrau-Durso, Russia’s largest sparkling wine producer, later noted that the winery “had been up for sale for several years.” Whether Andrey had always intended to exit, or whether the financial pressure accelerated his plans, remains unstated.
In 2018, he sold 80 percent of Villa Romanov to Beluga Group, Russia’s largest vodka producer, for more than $20 million. He retained a 19.5 percent stake. Beluga rebranded the property as Golubitskoe Estate—the Romanov name disappeared from the label for the second time. Again, Andrey offered no public comment.
The combined exits extracted approximately 3 billion rubles. By any measure, these were successful transactions. By his silence, their meaning remains private.
The Pivot #
What followed the sales was not retirement. In 2020—during the Covid-19 pandemic—Andrey opened Villa Romanov Wine Club & SPA, a 10-room boutique hotel on the Taman Peninsula. The property represents a strategic pivot: from industrial-scale winemaking requiring massive capital outlays to intimate hospitality with recurring revenue.
The scale is deliberately modest. Ten rooms. A wine bar featuring more than 280 Russian wines. Personal attention—guest reviews consistently note that Andrey himself conducts tours. The property has achieved the top ranking on TripAdvisor for Golubitskaya, a distinction that depends on sustained guest satisfaction rather than marketing spend.
The pivot from 231 hectares to 10 rooms tells its own story. Andrey built wineries designed to attract corporate buyers—modern, technological, scalable. His hotel appears designed to resist acquisition entirely. It depends on his presence, his name, his personal relationship with guests. You cannot buy Villa Romanov Wine Club & SPA and rebrand it the way you can rebrand a winery. The brand is the founder.
The Philosophy #
Andrey has given few interviews, but in a 2018 conversation with Komsomolskaya Pravda, he offered two observations about Russian wine. “Developed winemaking is the prestige of the country,” he said. “It is a national treasure. It is high technology in agriculture.” And: “The sphere of winemaking regulation is too bureaucratized here.”
These are industry talking points, not personal revelations. The biographical gap—why he sold, whether he regrets it, what the financial crisis felt like from inside—remains unfilled. Forbes Russia, characterizing his current venture in 2020, noted only that “having parted with” Golubitskoe Estate, he “took on an even more charismatic project.”
His quickFacts list his philosophy as “Actions over explanations.” Whether he chose those words or they were assigned to him, they fit. He built two wineries that proved valuable enough for major corporations to acquire. He never defended the sales or mourned the rebrandings. He pivoted to a business model that protects his name from future erasure. The actions are documented. The explanations remain his own.