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Notes: This article was originally published in the Autumn 2025 issue of the Antiques to Vintage Magazine
Elizabeth Cheung from Cache Antiques in Sydney reveals how a Russian prince beat the French at their own game. 
The inscription on this elegant tastevin offers a fascinating glimpse at the splendour of Imperial Russia, as well as the aspirations of one of her princes. With the sponsor’s mark of the French silversmith Paul Tonnelier, the tastevin (a tastevin is a small, very shallow silver cup or saucer traditionally used by wine- makers and sommeliers when judging the maturity, quality and taste of a wine) bears the inscription Bordeaux 3 Aout 1887 // Prince Leon Galitzin, which loosely translates to Bordeaux, 3rd August 1887, Prince Lev Sergeyevich Golitsyn. It was likely presented to the prince, who was not only a scion of Russia’s second-largest and noblest princely house, but also one of Russia’s finest winemakers.
The princely house of Golitysn traces its origins to Gediminas, Grand Duke of Lithuania and founder of its capital Vilnius in the 14th century. Ascending to power during the turbulent reign of Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725), the House of Golitsyn reached its zenith when Vasily Golitsyn became chief advisor to Peter’s regent Tsarina Sophia Alekseyevna. Not only was he Keeper of the Great Seal of Muscovy and the head of Foreign Affairs, he was held in such high favour that rumours of a romantic entanglement with the Tsarevna persist to this day.
Despite the bloody struggles of this interregnum period, the Golitsyns retained much power throughout the centuries, in particular the Vasilyevich branch headed by Nikolai Golitsyn, who would be the last Prime Minister of Imperial Russia. During the final days of Tsar Nicolas II’s reign they were behind many efforts to maintain the stability of the Russian throne.
Women, too, were potential kingmakers. Prince Lev Golitsyn’s sister Anna Nikolaevna Golitsyna, who married the powerful chairman of the Imperial Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, secretly backed her husband’s efforts to oust the charismatic faith healer Rasputin from power. Rodzianko was related to Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the murderers of Rasputin, and Princess Anna Golitsyn was believed to have possibly been one of the female conspirators behind the infamous assassination.
Meanwhile Prince Lev’s ambitions were far simpler and lay in the sunny fields of the Crimea. For centuries, French wines had been considered the pinnacle of sophistication in the Russian court. Veuve Clicquot had saved itself from bankruptcy during the Napoleonic Wars by smuggling champagne out; the 1811 vintage The Year of the Comet in particular was hugely popular in the Russian court. Part of the reason for its dominance was the unprepossessing nature of Russian wines. Most Russians opted for a local sparkling vintage called Tsimlyanskii Chernyi, made from local grapes but without the delicate flavours that the best champagnes possess.
For Prince Lev, a passionate wine drinker, the situation was a matter of national pride. His lofty dream was to create Russian champagne that stood on equal footing with the great vineyards of France, one that was affordable to all. Thus in 1878 he laid down grapes at what would be known as the Novyi Svit winery. Prince Lev had an uncanny instinct on what made good wine; able to distinguish different grape varieties by touch, smell and leaf alone, he meticulously selected the grapes that would later form the foundation of Russia’s first true champagne.
Established in Crimea, Novyi Svit lived up to its name, ushering in a new world for Russian champagne. On the same latitude as the famed vine-yards of Southern France, Novyi Svit was an immediate hit in Russia upon its release 10 years later and was served at the coronation of Tsar Nicolas II in 1896. It would go on to win worldwide acclaim with a Grand Prix at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 – beating the French in France!
Unfortunately, this savant in winemaking proved a less astute businessman. The Russian writer Vladimir Gilyarovsky noted Prince Lev was ‘splashing out his money left and right, never refusing anyone anything, especially students. He owned a wine store on Tverskaya Street in Moscow that sold wines from his splendid Novy Svet vineyards, with his pure natural wines costing only 25 kopecks a bottle, which was incredibly cheap. “I want any worker, craftsman or low-rank servant to drink good wine!” Golitsyn would say.’
This noble aim would prove to be his undoing, as Prince Lev was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1905. Compelled to give up his beloved vineyards, he gave them to the Tsar in the hope his winemaking legacy would be secured. In his memoirs, General
Alexander Spiridovitch notes of that occasion that Prince Lev Golitsyn ‘was like a great lord, in the manner in which he transferred his property Novi Svyet to the Emperor. Such things were never possible except in old Russia.’
Thankfully, Prince Lev did not live to see the October Revolution, which led to the downfall of his beloved Tsar. The vineyards of Novy Svit would be plundered until its nationalisation in 1920. But uncork a bottle of Novy Svit now, and the lingering sweetness remains this princely winemaker’s legacy.