SHABO Winery: How Ukrainian Wine Found a Home at City Vino

• Posted on 17 December 2025
• Posted in Cabernet Sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot, ukraine
• 0

On Monday, December 15th, City Vino was awarded a plaque recognizing us as one of the Top 10 retail shops for SHABO wine sales in the United States. I am completely floored. Yes, SHABO was part of our Wine Cru back in June, and yes, some bottles sold then. But what surprised me most was what happened afterward. The continued interest. The questions. The repeat purchases. The genuine curiosity. The demand came directly from you. As always, we aim to serve our community, and Fredericksburg embraced Ukrainian wine with enthusiasm. That kind of openness and trust is never assumed and never taken lightly.

How did it start? On March 4th, just a couple of months ago, I got an email from Well Crafted (one of my distributors) with the subject line: “Ukraine’s Most Awarded Winery Is Now Available in the U.S.” I actually think I missed it at first. Not too long after that, I got a phone call from this “Sam” guy saying something about making sales stops in the market and asking if he could stop by. I set up a time with him, and he completely missed the appointment. Great first impression, right? At the time, I didn’t realize everything happening behind the scenes for Sam. I think persistence, and my own catlike curiosity, won him a second chance at an appointment on March 24th.

Really? Ukrainian wine? I had customers ask for Ukrainian wine at the very beginning of the war, but two thoughts crossed my mind. First, those requests had mostly died down. Second, how good could the wines really be? You know, the kind of thing that makes you cock your head and squint a little like, “Hmm… really?” But guess what? I genuinely enjoyed the wines and developed a fun friendship with Sam Lerman.

Scott and I belong to the King George Wine Society, a chapter of the American Wine Society. Members take turns researching wines and presenting them as a teaching exercise. I invited Sam to give a presentation here at City Vino on May 9^th, sort of a field trip, since we usually meet at the American Legion in King George. Not long after that, June’s Wine Cru theme became obvious: Ukrainian wine.

At some point Sam mentioned that Giorgi Iukuridze, CEO and co‑founder of SHABO Winery, would be in Virginia briefly. On June 21st, some of you had the chance to meet him right here in the store. I’m working on stitching together a video from both presentations for the City Vino YouTube channel (yes — I forgot I even had one!). There were too many good stories not to share, so consider this a taste.

The story begins with Sam Lerman, CEO and founder of Spyrt Worldwide, an importing company focused on Ukrainian wine, vodka, and spirits. Sam is a Washington, D.C. native who served twelve years in the U.S. military and later worked in the defense industry, equipping Special Operations units with life‑saving gear. When full‑scale war broke out in Ukraine in March 2022, Sam volunteered to assist the Ukrainian Ministry of Strategic Industries. What was meant to be a short mission turned into a life‑altering experience. Living in a safe house, he connected deeply with the Ukrainian people, their purpose, and their resilience. Along the way, discovered Ukrainian wine.

Over multiple trips, Sam began “bootlegging” wine back to the U.S. to share with friends and family. He quickly realized something surprising: there was no Ukrainian wine available in U.S. retail or restaurants. Seeing both a gap in the market and an opportunity to support Ukraine, Sam founded Spyrt Worldwide in January 2023 alongside Maksym, a Ukrainian veteran and entrepreneur, and David, a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer. Their mission is twofold: introduce Americans to the quality of Ukrainian products and support humanitarian and tactical aid efforts. Fifteen percent of profits are pledged to Invictus Global Response, a veteran‑run EOD organization clearing landmines and training Ukrainian deminers.

Sam’s first winery meeting was with a small producer in western Ukraine. The owner admired the vision but explained the winery was too small to scale. She then arranged dinner with SHABO Winery. That dinner, held in Kyiv, lasted three hours. Giorgi Iukuridze questioned Sam relentlessly about mission, philosophy, and long‑term vision. Giorgi was clear: SHABO’s wines were not going to be treated like a novelty or a shiny new object pushed to the back of a dusty shelf. The wines were too good for that. Sam’s passion won Giorgi over. SHABO had exported to only twenty‑six countries before this — the United States became the twenty‑seventh. Giorgi had been waiting for the right partner.

Ukraine’s winemaking tradition stretches back more than 2,500 years, beginning with Greek colonies in the south near modern‑day Odesa. Over centuries, empires came and went, including the Ottomans, who named the region Aşağıköy, meaning “lower gardens.”

In 1822, Swiss colonists arrived and renamed the region Shabo. Their goal was to find heaven on earth for winemaking. They built not just vineyards, but an entire village, school, church, and police, all centered around wine. Within 25 years, in 1847, SHABO had already won an international winemaking award in France.

The 20th century was harder. Under Soviet control, SHABO was nationalized and shifted toward quantity over quality. But in 2003, Vaja Iukuridze, a fourth‑generation winemaker, saw what SHABO could be again. He mortgaged everything to purchase the winery when it was privatized.

From 2009 to 2021, Vaja and his son Giorgi invested nearly $115 million to modernize the winery, bring in French expertise, and replant vineyards. Today, SHABO produces over a million bottles of brandy a month and holds 35% of Ukraine’s domestic brandy market. While the wine program is smaller, it is where passion, precision, and identity truly shine. Sam has brought SHABO Wine to the US with force. The bulk of what is sold of course is here in Virginia, DC, and Maryland. But the reach has gotten as far as Colorado with gusto. I can’t wait to see what more will happen for Sam. It sounds like he may be in the running for the “40 under 40” to watch!

So, I simply want to say thank you. Thank you for being curious, for supporting wines with real stories, and for helping City Vino become part of something much bigger than what’s just on the shelf.

— Rita