(Harpers) - The emerging Ukrainian wine industry is looking to raise winemaking standards to European levels - by working with foreign consultants and setting up a professional wine body. Ivan Plachkov, the country’s former energy minister and founder of Kolonist Winery in the Odessa region, has set up the Ukrainian Bureau of Vine and Wine and the OIV about how to professionalise the industry. Speaking at the first-ever UK tasting of Ukrainian wine, which took place yesterday at the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair, Plachkov described his project as “pioneering”.