In business, do not rush as negotiations can be slow and carefully considered with nothing set in stone until the deal is signed. Authority and seniority is admired, but emotional play and delaying tactics may be used to try and change your point of view. Since Russians live very closely with their families they are used to having a very close network of people to help them get things done. This is often the case in business too and infiltrating this close communal network should not be assumed or taken lightly. Russians can have a very sceptical outlook on life and can expect things to go wrong. A very sunny disposition can be hard to bear for some Russians. Strength and a lack of compromise are seen as much better personality traits.

If you are invited to a Russian home, it is polite to take a small gift. Whilst eating at a dinner party or business meeting, remember that the oldest or most honoured guest is served first, manners are generally casual, but ensure your hands are always visible. Men generally serve drinks to women who are seated to the left of them. There are many differences between the West and Russia in terms of what is considered bad manners in public. The following are just a few things that are frowned on in Russia: standing with your hand in your pockets, showing the sole of your footwear when crossing your legs, whistling, putting your arm over the back of a chair, relaxing on the steps of a public building or eating lunch on the grass of a park. Careful preparation and planning will ensure that your trip to this fascinating country is a productive and enjoyable one.

First off, remember that there is a difference between Russia and the Soviet Union, a fact that many people from outside of that area often forget, thinking that they’re the same thing. In reality, the regulation of the making of Russian wines has had its own ups and downs, following the history of Russia’s being a part of the Soviet Union. During the time of the Soviet Union, wines from Russia were often bottled and packaged under strict supervision of the government, causing many vineyard owners to send their product to other areas of the country for bottling. This of course would interrupt the wine’s natural fermentation process; many wine connoisseurs know that a true winemaker looks over his product from the planting of the grapes until the filled bottles are sent away for others to enjoy.

There is no part of the winemaking process that is less important than another, and for a vineyard owner to have to send his product to someone else to bottle was just a slap in the face for many!After the end of the Soviet era, this meant that many who produced Russian wines were without bottling equipment and the like. Also, because supplies were so difficult to get, many winemakers made their product from imported concentrates and juices, and the end result was by far some of the most inferior wine that anyone could ever taste, if they could even be called wines!

However, today Russian wines are enjoying a newfound popularity. As merchants are becoming more readily established, vineyard owners are once again finding their crops to be plentiful and bottling facilities readily available. Also, because of the tough economic times in years past, many of the wines from Russia are made without chemical and pesticides. As the growers could not afford these things, they learned how to care for their crops without them. There are also virtually no chemicals or enzymes used in the fermentation or bottling process either; from start to finish, these wines are pretty much tended and harvested without any outside interference.