page_title: Kazakh wine
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kazakh wine / History
caption_attribution_description: Image of an old Kazakhstan wine bottle.
context_page_description: Kazakh wine is wine made in Kazakhstan. The roots of the Kazakh wine industry can be traced to the 7th century AD when grapevines were brought to the region from neighboring Uzbekistan and China. While only around 4% of the land in Kazakhstan is ideally situated for viticulture, the country does manage to produce over 6.2 million gallons of wine annually from 32,120 acres. Buoyed by its mineral wealth, the country is an enthusiastic consumer of wine but must import 80% of the 30 m bottles it drinks.
context_section_description: The earliest evidence of viticulture in Kazakhstan appear during the 7th century AD around Shymkent and in the foot hills of Tian Shan in Almaty Province near the Kazakh-Kyrgyzstan border. Vines were believed to have been introduced to the area by traders from the Xinjiang province of China and the Fergana and Samarqand regions of Uzbekistan. Throughout most of Kazakhstan's history, commercial winemaking was conducted on a small scale. In the early 20th century, state-run vineyards in Almaty, Shymkent and Taraz were the largest producers. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there has been renewed interest in the Kazakhstan wine industry with Russia becoming a leading trading partner in Kazakh wine.
  In general the emphasis will be on inexpensive table wine, although the UN thinks that the continental climate may allow the production of high-value ice wine.
caption: An early Kazakh wine bottle.
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