Ours in the USA: as a Russian, in 40 years, he left everything and moved to the USA to grow grapes

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Andrey Medvedev is a successful Russian businessman. At the age of forty, he radically changed his life: he moved to the USA and took up viticulture. What freedom did he gain, why does he think that he has become closer to God, and in whose memory he erected a chapel on a hill, among the vineyards. This is his American story as told by "Voice of America«.

Andrey was born in the town of Shcherbinka near Moscow. He spent his entire childhood and youth there, and graduated from high school there. By the time he graduated, he clearly saw his goal - to become a paratrooper officer, so he prepared for the army: he ran, jumped, and did boxing.

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In 18 years he went to the army and got to Afghanistan, where he served in special forces. In 20 years, retiring from the army, our hero entered the Ryazan Military School, which is not finished.

“Afghanistan has greatly changed my views, and not just mine, on life. At the age of 21, when I returned to civilian life, I again faced a choice of what to do and who to be,” recalls Andrei.

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In 1988, a young man entered the law faculty of Moscow State University, where he studied for 5 years. All his students worked: first as a physical education teacher at school, then as a children's trainer, and last years of study and after graduation as a corporate lawyer.

“In 15 years I have achieved everything I wanted. The peak of my career was the position of vice president of the Sibur company, after which I realized that in this life I need to change something and make some new decisions. And at the age of 40, I again had to choose what to do next,” Andrey says, smiling.

Being a lawyer, Andrei traveled a lot on business trips and saw beautiful vineyards in Europe, tasted wine - then the dream of someday getting into viticulture appeared.

It was in 40 years, Andrew decided to radically change his life and do what he had long dreamed of. He himself says that his decision was influenced by his peasant roots - all his ancestors worked on the land.

To fulfill his dream, Andrew moved to America. In 2008, he flew to visit friends in North Carolina.

“I had jetlag. I woke up early in the morning when the sun was rising. I looked out the window and saw vineyards in the fog, and horses grazing right under the window. Then I realized that this is my idyll, my dream that I am looking for. Everything fell into place in my head,” recalls Andrey.

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Andrey lives in the small town of Troyan in North Carolina and is a partner of the company. Russian Chapel Hills Vinerywhich, on 6 acres of land, grows grapes and produces wine.

In the year 2012 built a winery, and laid the first barrels.

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“I really love the process itself, when you arrive at the vineyard early in the morning and the sun rises on the horizon. My dogs are also with me, for whom this place is their home, and they are happy. At the same time, they guard the vineyard, protecting it from deer,” says Andrey.

As a partner, Andrew also works with the workers in the vineyard and in the winery and performs all the administrative work.

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The business is small and the company cannot afford to hire many workers, but the advantage is that workers can control the quality of the grapes at all stages, sort the berries and use less chemistry.

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For Andrey, viticulture is part of art. “You don’t know until the last minute what you’ve done until you open a bottle of wine. It's a mystery. Either everything worked out, or the entire harvest was ruined. It’s always intriguing,” says Andrey.

One of the first and main difficulties was poor knowledge of the language.

“It’s one thing to dream about reading in books and watching grapes grow, but it’s another thing to know how wine is made. I realized that I lacked knowledge. I had to go to school again at my age and learn from scratch,” says our hero.

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For two years, Andrew studied at a college in North Carolina, where he studied viticulture and winemaking. It helped in several moments at once: with English and with adaptation in American society, and also brought into the circle of people in this business.

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Family

Andrei has two adult children who currently live in Moscow, Russia. Daughters 20 years, she is a student at Moscow State University. Son 28 years. He already has his own family and he owns his own successful business in Moscow.

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Having moved to the USA, Andrew met his future wife, who was the owner of the restaurant and remains so to this day. Andrei was one of the most loyal customers of the restaurant, they met, and a romance started between them. Two years later, the couple got married.

They got a real international family. His wife is from China and, despite the fact that she has lived in the US most of her life, does not lose her roots. She has a very difficult fate. From China, she was forced to emigrate to America without anything. This woman also realized the American dream - she went to study, worked a lot and built her business, for which her husband is very respectful.

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“We have a very good family. We rarely see each other. We work a lot. This is good, because we have no time to quarrel, so the family is very friendly,” says Andrey.

In addition to family ties, they are united by business. Her two restaurants - the main sellers of wine Andrew in the city of Asheville.

Andrew made a discovery for himself - the nature of North Carolina is reminiscent of the nature of central Russia. The same was noticed by all his relatives and friends who came to visit.

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Andrey loves an active life. In winter he skateboards, in summer he waterboards. Active sports allow you to always feel “on the wave”.

In addition to the wine, the visiting card was the Chapel of St. Anne, which stands on top of the vineyards - it can be seen from all sides. Many tourists, noticing it, come to find out more about it.

For Andrei, this chapel means a lot. In this way, he immortalized the memory of his military friends who died in the war in Afghanistan.

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The chapel is wooden. She was ordered in Russia, in Arkhangelsk. It is built on the old Russian technology without nails. She was transported in parts from Russia to America. Local workers were able to collect it, after which the Metropolitan Hilarion consecrated it.

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“Our chapel is part of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and belongs to the parish of St. Nicholas the Pleasant, which is located in the city of Asheville. Once or twice a month, prayer services are held here, and the priest comes here and serves,” says Andrey.

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He added that it was here in America that he “became closer to God,” more often he goes to church.

“Here the service of the church is more honest. It is poor, simple and there is no feeling that the church is a business,” adds Andrey.

In addition to the church, Andrew built a stable, which he brought to America from Russia, just like his dogs. In his free time he takes dogs, saddles horses and goes for a walk. It was because of the horses that he chose North Carolina.

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Despite the fact that horses take a lot of time, for Andrew it is a pleasure.

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Andrei lived in America for 10 years: “Looking back, I understand that I am very grateful to America for giving me the opportunity to realize my dream. Like any ambitious person, I see my wine in 10 years at international exhibitions not only in America, but throughout the world. I want our place to become not only a place of attraction for Russian speakers, but also for all Americans,” says Andrey.

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