▻ Ukraine’s Champagne for Victory

Let's Talk About

21 Dec

Written By Sarah Kemp

In conversation with Mariia Didkovska in Kyiv

Episode Summary:-

Hope. One word, but an important one today. Mariia Didkovska talks to Sarah Kemp about how her faith in victory and her respect for Ukraine’s rich culture inspired her to create a champagne called “Victoire de la Dignité”. Six well-known Ukrainian artists have designed labels with their personal interpretation of what victory looks like, and all the profits from their sales are going to Ukraine’s Central Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defence and their mobile military hospitals. Mariia tells Sarah how important it is to still have hope for victory:

““We have to win because it is like a border from the normal world with normal thinking and the other world”. ”

— Mariia Didkovska

Mariia is a restaurateur in Kyiv, and Champagne Pierre Molet had supplied her restaurants for several years. When the war commenced, they asked if they could help, even inviting her family to come and stay. The Morlet family also offered her a wine from the 2015 harvest, which had been saved from freezing by their efforts of placing burners in the vineyard to protect the grapes, an appropriate symbolic gesture. The champagne has been created exclusively for Ukraine. Mariia explains how thrilled she was with their offer and how she set about recruiting the six artists, Oleksii Apollonov, Mykola Bilous, Olena Pryduvalona, Maryna Skugarveva, Oleksandr Sukholit and Oleg Tistol. The original artwork is hanging in her restaurant.

2,388 bottles have been produced exclusively from the 2015 harvest, in 750ml bottles and large formats . She believes in remaining positive; it is a marathon, she says. “All people I know wake up and say thank you, because we wake up.” “Victorie de La Dignité” can be bought through their website or call +38 097 000 2388. Email inquiries@victoiredeladignite.com

Running Order:-

0.00 – 13.04

“All people I know wake up and say thank you, because we wake up.”

– Mariia Didkovska on life in Kyiv today.
– How Mariia came up with the project “Victoire de la Dignité” .
– How Mariia came to work with Champagne Pierre Morlet.
– Champagne Pierre Morlet use their 2015 vintage for “Victoire de la Dignité” .
– Recruiting the six Ukrainian artists to design labels depicting victory.
13.05 – 20.08

“All profits from the bottles go to the Central Military Hospital in Kyiv and the mobile hospitals in the hot spots.”

– The six artists who have designed the labels.
– Flavour of “Victorie de la Dignité”.
– Mariia’s future projects.