Nemiroff is one of the oldest recorded vodka distilleries in the country with roots dating back to 1797, and is best known as the pioneer of vodka made from solely wheat instead of potatoes.
Today, the firm lays claim to being the top-rated vodka in Ukraine and is already selling its products in some 80 countries with exports making up some 42% of its business – but has grand plans to increase this even further.
“The current most important export markets to us include Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries such as Central Asia’s Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as Europe, the Middle East and so on,” Nemiroff Vodka Senior Marketing Manager Exports Valeria Yaroshenko told FoodNavigator-Asia at the recent Tax Free World Association (TFWA) event in Singapore.
“This year we are also looking at the United States, Latin America, Canada and western Europe – but importantly are also trying to enter Asian markets including China and Singapore, where we already have some traction from a travel retail angle.
“We have six products with interesting flavours such as Honey Pepper, Burning Pear and Wild Cranberry – but in APAC we are noticing particular interest in our Nemiroff De Luxe product, which is a premium clear vodka made using a 16th century recipe using 27 herbs and spices and rested in wooden barrels previously used to make Hennessey.
“The reason our vodkas are so premium is because of our unique filtration process – all of our products undergo 11 stages of filtration, through filters made from materials like quartz, birch, charcoal, silver, platinum and more.”
This multi-stage filtration minerally enriches the vodka to give it an even more unique taste.
“Nemiroff also launched two even more super-premium products to support war efforts – these went through 12 stages of filtration, the last added filter being made from amber,” she added.
“We grow and process all of our own herbs and fruits – the only one we need to buy is Indian chilli pepper - for of our products, and this also adds to the premium element and branding we want to concentrate on.”
The firm plans to launch even more super-premium products in the fourth quarter of 2023 – promising the production of items that have undergone even more filtrations.
Asia challenges
Nemiroff considers China to be the most challenging market to tackle in Asia even though it has made this one of its prime targets, believing that its focus on premiumisation can give it an edge.
“The thing about China is that there are already a lot of alcoholic products there and the market is very saturated – plus many of these are cheaper too,” she added.
“This makes it very difficult for us to think about entering off-trade retail right off the bat, and makes working to get into on-trade and travel retail avenues in China ever more important.
“That said, we have a different focus which is to go premium and super-premium, and there is a market in China and Asia where these products will be able to fill a gap.”