Son of Dmitry Medvedev confirms family’s link to winery spotlighted in Navalny corruption exposé — by joining its board of directors

The primary source of these losses is something that normally generates income for wineries: the sale of wine. In 2024, the company earned 178 million rubles in revenue, while its cost of sales was 343 million rubles. A similar pattern occurred in 2023, when the winery earned 61 million rubles but spent 123 million rubles on operations. According to the firm’s financial reports, Skalisty Bereg sells its wines at roughly half the cost of production — this despite retail prices reaching up to 3,990 rubles (over $40) per bottle.

Winemaking has become a hallmark pastime among the Putin-era Russian elite, rivaling their well-known tastes for luxury yachts and high-end watches. Beyond personal indulgence, these hobbies often serve to reinforce informal ties within the country’s kleptocracy. One example is the lavish gravity-flow winery complex in the southern Russian seaside town of Anapa, which not only produces wines linked to Dmitry Medvedev but is also used by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. Although Manturov owns vineyards in the Krasnodar Region, the construction of his own winery remains unfinished. Until recently, his grapes were processed at the Lefkadia winery; however, since 2023, production has moved to Skalisty Bereg.

The lavish event at the Moscow Planetarium was also devoted to a new partnership between the winery and its distributor, Simple, which operates a nationwide chain of wine boutiques under the same name. Simple’s portfolio features over 100 wine producers, including seven with close connections to members of the Putin-era elite:

• Usadba Mezyb (lit. “Mezyb Estate”; associated with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church)
• Shumrinka (linked to Lanfranco Cirillo, the architect of Putin’s aforementioned palace)
• Alma Valley (owned by VTB Bank chairman Andrey Kostin)
• Mantra (owned by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov)
• Zolotaya Balka (associated with Artem Zuev, a corporate raider and banker listed under the Magnitsky sanctions)
• Valery Zakharyin (a brand owned by nominal proxy Valery Zakharyin, linked to financier Yury Kovalchuk, a close friend of Vladimier Putin)
• Riecine (owned by Gleb Frank, son-in-law of oligarch Gennady Timchenko, another close friend of Vladimir Putin)