Museum of Wine-Making named after Khovrenko

The Museum of Wine-Making in Samarkand occupies a nineteenth-century brick building constructed by the merchant Filatov. Inside, you find the legacy of Mikhail Khovrenko, the chemist who standardized Uzbek winemaking in the nineteen thirties. Khovrenko analyzed the local grapes and determined exactly which varieties thrived in the Samarkand sun, turning small-batch production into a formal science. Bottles from his original vintages still rest in the cellar, a collection that survived even when prohibitionists attempted to destroy the region's winemaking stock.