Moscow Wine Bars : Dissident

Svetlana Lomsadze, sommelière at Dissident Lubyanka Ploshchad, Moscow (Russia)
Moscow wine bars (Vinnii Bar or ВИННЫЙ БАР in Russian) aren’t easy to find but there are a few which are worth a visit. The Russian capital keeps improving its choice of wines with a growing appetite for quality products. This comes with a price though, as this city is known as being one of the most expensive of the world and because import fees and distributor margins augment considerably the price of wines.
Svetlana Lomsadze is the young sommeliére at Dissident, a prominent wine bar in Moscow. She speaks good French and I could chat with her about this wine venue and also about her recent visits to the French wine regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, some of them she made on bicycle, stopping along at the Domaines and tasting the wines between cycling bouts. Asked how winery people there in France reacted to a [beautiful] Russian wine sommelière knocking at their door, she said they didn’t show particular surprise and were happy to exchange with her about the wines.
But Dissident has more than quality wines and a beautiful and expert sommelière [which would already make it] to offer : as its name may suggest, it has some particular relation with the heart of the late soviet system and its intelligence apparatus.

My glass of Domaine Weinbach with view on the Lubyanka...Among the hot features of Dissident is the fact that the wine bar/restaurant sits on a strategic real estate spot facing the once-dreaded Lubyanka (see a Lubyanka area sattelite image with buildings tags). The Lubyanka, as it was nicknamed by the citizens of the Soviet Union, is the massive building sitting on the Lubyanka Ploshchad (square) which was formerly the headquarters of the internal-security service of the USSR, the KGB (and of the NKVD and of the other previous incarnations of the Dzerzhinsky-created police) . The dissidents of the soviet era (or even ordinary citizens during the Stalin years) were often brought here to have to face interrogation on a fateful day, possibly as a first stop before a life-threatening deportation or worse. The intelligence service has changed its name & aims (it’s now the FSB) and these Stalin years seem very far from today’ Russia, particularly for the young Russians who may have a hard time figuring how life was back then in the USSR (You don’t know how lucky you are, boys..). Now, the FSB has to deal like every other country with muslim terrorists, and the Lubyanka metro station was hit by one of them this year, by the way.
Whatever, look at this view on the picture above : can any other wine bar in Moscow offer a more thrilling setting ? Frankly I don’t think. A table at DissidentTo find Dissident, all you need is to take the subway to the Lubyanka station. Once on the Lubyanka square (Lubyanskaya Ploshchad), with the massive building in your back, look in front-right, you’ll see a modern building called the Nautilus Trade Center which is a multi-story shopping center with an original architecture design. See the picture above on the right that I shot a couple years ago : the wine bar balcony is the semi-circular one at the 5th floor. To reach the bar/restaurant, take the escalator to the 5th level and once there, walk around the circular gallery until you notice drawers half hiding a door with a discreet plaque on the wall, this is Dissident.
Once inside, you see a cosy restaurant room with large windows overlooking the Lubyanskaya Ploshchad. Just seat and ask for the wine menu, or look to the blackboard with the good deals of the day. When we dropped there a few weeks ago, there was a Saga Rotshild for 385 Rbs (100 Roubles make about 2,5 €), a Bourgogne for 370 Rbs, a Baglio del Sole for 320 Rbs and a Monte do Palmeiro for 320 Rbs. SvetlanaWe were unannounced and after presentation, my friend Lena and I were greeted by a gracious young woman who is the sommelière there, Svetlana Lomsadze. As her name hints, she is a Russian of Georgian origin, which is particularly suited for a wine professional, as this country has deep roots in the wine culture. Women are also beginning to step a foot in the wine world in Russia like in the rest of the wine-loving world. Svetlana offered us a glass of wine, and I told her that we'd prefer a white at that hour but as I refused to make a choice on the wine list [1000 Rbls make about 24 €] because I didn't want her to open a bottle specially for us, I suggested she chose one of the already-opened bottles. She came back with a bottle of Domaine Weinbach Riesling Grand Cru Schlossberg 2007. My, this was a nice wine and I feel particularly thankful for her attention. The fact that she spoke fluent French allowed us to speak more comfortably about her job and about the wine bar.
Dissident opened 6 years ago, not long after the Nautilus shopping center facing the Lubyanka was inaugurated. The wine book at DissidentDissident is a wine bar where you can get something to eat as it’s also a restaurant, and you can order simple dishes to go with your glass of wine, like fried eggs with cheese or other ingredients at 160 or 180 Rbs a plate.
Asked about the number of wines available by the glass, Svetlana says that the whole of the 200 references can be ordered by the glass. When a bottle has been opened and is not finished, she’ll advise the next customers to order this wine if they haven’t a precise wish, and this method goes smoothly without bottles remaining unfinished for a long time. The price of the glass is also lowered when they want a bottle to be finished. The wine menu is a book with many prestigious wines along more affordable ones. Svetlana has made a great job in her selection, with for example a Dagueneau Blanc Fumé which costs here 5000 Rbs for a bottle / 1000 for a glass, and a Dagueneau Pouilly Fumé Pur sang for 618O a bottle / 1250 a glass. She is holding a bottle of Dagueneau on the picture with the wine cabinet/fridge. Tables with view in MoscowDissident holds regularly wine-tasting workshops, like august 22nd they had an Italian-wine session (Trentino, Alto Adige) where 5 wines of Elena Walch could be had by the glass : a Chard 2009 at 1000 Rbs, a Pinot Grigio Alto 2009 at 1200 Rbs, a Gewürztraminer Alto 2009 at 1400 Rbs, a Chardonnay Cardelino Alto 2008 at 1800 Rbs and a Cabernet Sauvignon Tingberg at 1850 Rbs (rates by the glass - 1000 Rbs making 25 €). On september 5th they had Chile wines and more recently on september 19th, Champagne. Plus, every sunday they have what they call a sparkling weekend with different bubblies. The refrigerated cellar at Dissident (the Dagueneau rack)One thing that is particularly interesting, especially when you come from Paris, is that the wine bar is opened 7 days a week, with working hours from 11am to 2am in continuum. Remembering my headache in Paris when I had to find a good wine bar opened on sunday evening or on monday evening for passing friends of us, I can tell you that this detail has its importance...

I finished not long before I began this Russian trip a book written by Yevgenia Guinsburg, a woman who was deported in the late 30s in the eastern-Russia Kolyma region until well after WW2 and this book (Journey into the whirlwind - Крутой маршрут in Russian) is a poignant testimony of what so many people lived during the Stalin years (many never made it to the end). This resilient woman symbolises well the Russian people's miraculous survival during those many years. винотека диссидент Dissident Lubyanka Ploshchad, Moscow Metro Lubyanka 7/7 - 11am to 2am phone + 7 (495) 500-27-67 www.dissident.msk.ru Wine list location map Satellite image/map of the area Friends on a Moscow boulevard (same day)

Comments

[King Krak, Oenomancer]

Wow, what an incredible wine list!

Miani Sauvignon Blanc by the glass...probably the only place in the world with most expensive 100% sauvignon by the glass.