Massandra is situated 3 kilometers far to the East from Yalta.

The high hills of Nikita mountain pasture, the highest point of Mauntin Avinda is 1473 meters, protect Massandra from the cold air from the North and the southern winds bring the fresh breath of the Black sea. The Massandra park is one of the most beautiful parks of the Southern Coast. It was laid in the 1840 by the German horticulturist Kari Kebach, he was the founder of the Alupka park as well. The park was laid out by the serf labour of the peasants brought by Count Vorontsov from all the provinces of Russia. There are more than 200 tree and bush species grow in the Massandra park on its 40 hectares nowadays. The park was planned in the English style with curvilinear paths and picturesque groups of trees.

The nature itself helped the horticulturists to create interesting landscape views. The shadowy groves of cypresses and cedars alternate with light sunny glades. There are many southern exotic plants in the park: palms, sequoias, magnolias, cryptomerias, bamboo thickets. The shadowy box pergolas, gigantic balls of cut laurel, rose lanes in bloom till November, they all gladden the eye.

The best decoration of the park is a group of six Italian pines with a common umbellate crown. On the glade a mighty 500 years old oak spread its branches like an alive illustration to a fairy tale… And everywhere is smooth surface on the park man-made pools…   

Further from the center one meet the local species of the trees: oak, wild pistachio-trees and the cultural park gradually passes to the natural forest.

On the Old Massandra cemetery lies the body of the outstanding Ukrainian poet Stepan Rudansky (1834-1873), who translated in Ukraine the Homer’s «Iliad» and whose song «Blow, wind, softly to Ukraine» is still very popular in Ukraine. Here reposes the Russian landscaper FyodorVasilyev (1850-1873), the young artist’s last landscape was «In the Crimean Mountains»…

Tayfi pink grape

Massandra is well known in Ukraine and abroad mainly on account of its winery. The first industrial vineyards in Massandra were planted at the beginning of the 19^th century.

In 1823 Count Vorontsov became the owner of Massandra, originally Marsanda. He bought very good sorts of vine and invited the famous viticulturists from France.

grapes «Italy»

Massandra became noted as a leading centre for the manufacture of the Crimean wines on account of the activity of Prince Lev Sergeyevich Golitsyn, a talented viticulturist. He was invited to Massandra in 1889 when Massandra became a tsar estate. He set the Russian viniculture a task — to prove that the national wines were not worse than the best world brands. Thanks to his work the biggest wine cellar designed by engineer Dietrich was built near the waterfall in 1897, the year he was forced to leave his post.

The development of viticulture and wine-making is connected with the Research Institute «Magarach». The work of the Magarach collective has been honoured with many diplomas and medals at international exhibitions. The Magarach Institute established close links with the research institutes of many countries. The Crimean viticulturist exchange information about viniculture with their American colleges.

Specialists at Magarach have created original brands of wine made from Crimean grapes such as Black Doctor and Ruby.

The wine cellar, holding more than 350 thousand deciliters of wine for maturing in barrels was built in the 1890s. There were 7 tunnels 150 meters long and up to 5 meters wide branching off from a central gallery. A temperature of 10-12 °C, for wine to mature is maintained inside the cellar. In 1957 a new cellar was built next to the old one. It holds one million deciliters of 33 different kinds of wine.

The wines, which are exported to many countries, are well known to the experts. At the international wine contest in 1970 Massandra entered 25 brands, 24 of them received gold medals. The White Muscat of the Red Stone brand was awarded 2 first prize trophies «Grand Prix». It was the only wine in the world, which had received so high estimation.

Massandra owns a unique wine museum with a collection of 700 types of wine. Some of wines are 200 years old «Jerez de la Frontera» sherry of 1775 (Jerez is a town in Spain, headquarters of the sherry trade), the «Madeira Ribero Secci of 1837, «The Seventh Sky» of 1880 from the collection of Golitsyn, «Tokay» of 1892, a sweet golden Hungarian dessert wine, after Tokay in Hungary.

The collection of wines, or the good cellar, was saved twice: in 1918 it was simply bricked up and in 1941 it was Taken out under bombs to Caucasus and then inland.

Massandra Winery achieved worldwide fame thanks in the first place to A.A. Yegorov and his followers. Alexandre Alexandrovich Yegorov (1874-1969) was the head wine-maker and only to the assortment of «Massandra» he introduced 19 kinds of new wines.

He raised the art of wine-tasting to the unprecedented height. The followers of A.A. Yegorov maintain the world reputation of «Massandra» trade mark.