Stars in glasses: wine mythopoetics in the Milky Way topo and the crimean universe

Abstract

This article explores the mythopoetic potential of introducing symbols of cosmic spatial topology—such as "Space," "Galaxy," and "Star"—into the philosophical and cultural discourse of Crimean winemaking. It is stated that, from a technological standpoint, modern humanity is close to creating a complete wine production chain on the ISS: from growing grapes in orbit to aging them in specialized tanks. Therefore, the question arises of creating a range of mythopoetic structures capable of arousing sustained interest in "space wines" among the general consumer. Having examined the offerings of several Crimean winemakers, the author focuses his analysis on three producers whose "galactic" theme is most explicit and systematic: Valery Zakharyin, Yaiyla Winery, and Le K2. It is concluded that the symbolic legendarium of all the analyzed wines is focused primarily on organoleptics, where various celestial bodies symbolize the color and richness of the wine, occasionally alluding to taste, but almost never to aroma. The rich terroirs of the Crimean landscape, which can easily be linked to cosmic themes, are essentially ignored. Unfortunately, modern Crimean winemakers fail to utilize the organoleptic properties of wine and cosmic themes. For example, when placing photographs of galaxies on labels, they fail to connect "light galaxies" with white wines, "pink galaxies" with orange wines, and so on. The choice of imagery is quite arbitrary, not to mention the lack of a systematic connection between the name of the star cluster featured on the label and the overall concept and philosophy of a particular wine brand. Two paths for expanding the "cosmic theme" in winemaking are proposed. The first is technocratic. The creation of unique bottles aims to establish and promote a clear, logical connection between the wine's color and the color of a specific galaxy, as well as a direct link between the name of a stellar body and the classic legendarium of a winery's terroir or grape variety. The second approach is archaic-poetic. It involves the creation of artificial myths, following the example of Plato, interwoven with poetic narratives. The practice of inviting artists or science fiction writers to wineries to create their works, inspired by the possibilities of a particular terroir, is being introduced. This will allow for the creation of original lines of unique, signature wines aimed at target audiences consisting of individual fans or their communities: from rock bands to specific science fiction writers. The author concludes that wine, as a companion of human civilization and culture, will sooner or later inevitably enter space, and the greatest dividends from this will accrue to producers who have developed development strategies in advance that take into account new markets associated with deep space travel and human settlements on celestial bodies in the solar system.