The Corkscrew Museum - Tasting room

4a, Kotsiubynskoho Street, Verkhovyna, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine

The CorkscrewMuseum - Tasting Room is an ideal place for lovers of homemade young wine and houses about 600 corkscrews of various types. Home-made young wine will be offered for tasting, as well as a story about the history and types of corkscrews. Corkscrews in the form of animals, birds, keys, weapons, glasses. Different sizes and colors. They are everywhere in the spacious gazebo. On the walls, the fireplace, even the chandelier. By the way, it is made in the form of a barrel. Everything here is about wine-paintings, drawings, jugs, glasses.

The corkscrew museum was opened in Verkhovyna by Petro and Halyna Antypov, who set it up in their own backyard. They also made a degustation room. There, they treat tourists to red wine, chacha, cheeses, and Ivan tea. Our correspondents were among the first to visit the museum.

Most of the corkscrews here are in the shape of keys. They look very similar, as if they were the same, but this is only at first glance. Tourists are always welcome in this museum. The entrance is free. If you want to taste homemade wine and cheese, it will cost you a symbolic 30 hryvnias.

The Antipov family house is located right next to the bus station, in a small street. A smiling owner greets you at the gate. He says he will soon put up a sign so that tourists don't wander off and come back more often. But there is no shortage of them anyway. There are tourists from all over Ukraine. Americans, Poles, and Belarusians also come here. Everyone is treated to wine, which has been produced for 15 years.

There are three types of corkscrews. The first is the one that has to be screwed in and out. It's a traditional one, it's in every home. The second is a vacuum corkscrew, which squeezes out the cork under pressure. It looks like a nipple needle. It pierces the cork, and we pump air inside. Under pressure, the cork shoots out with a specific sound, like champagne. And with smoke. And there is a third type, called a gypsy corkscrew. This corkscrew has two needles that go between the cork and the bottle without destroying it. You just have to twist it and remove the cork with one jerk.

The Antipovs make all the wine they serve to their guests themselves. The only thing is that they buy grapes in Rokosiv, Zakarpattia. Every year in early October, they go to their trusted growers to get it. They take a crusher with them and grind the bunches on the spot, and then pour the ground grapes into barrels and take them to Verkhovyna. It stays in the barrels for up to 10 days, and then they put it all on a press and squeeze the juice.

At first, tourists come to them with such an expression on their faces, saying, "What can you tell us here? But they leave with round eyes and armfuls of wine, cheese, tea, and mushrooms.