Uzbek Wine & Drinks: What to Sip in Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan’s surprising wine story, plus green tea, kompot, ayran, beer and vodka, where to drink, what it costs, and the etiquette to know.
Samarkand’s Khovrenko winery dates from 1868, and the city has been making wine in its modern form ever since, and for a couple of thousand years before that, if you count the ancient vineyards of the Zarafshan Valley. Uzbekistan is a Muslim-majority country, but it is also a determinedly secular one with a Soviet past, and the drinks landscape reflects both: tea-house ritual, wine museums with dusty medals, licensed liquor aisles, vodka toasts at family feasts. This guide covers the wineries worth visiting, the local drinks you should not skip, what alcohol availability is really like, and the etiquette that keeps you on the right side of your hosts.
Uzbekistan’s Surprising Wine Story
Grapes are one thing Uzbekistan has never lacked. Hot, dry summers and relentless sunshine push sugar levels in the fruit sky-high, historically that meant table grapes and raisins more than wine, especially after Islam arrived in the 8th century, but winemaking never disappeared, and the Russian colonial era revived it at industrial scale. Today the vineyards around Samarkand, Tashkent and the Fergana Valley produce mostly sweet and semi-sweet wines that suit the local palate, plus a growing number of dry wines aimed at visitors. Do not come expecting Burgundy. Come expecting something genuinely different, often dessert-styled, occasionally excellent, and always a good story.
Khovrenko Winery: Samarkand’s Wine Museum
The heart of the story is the Khovrenko Winery in Samarkand, founded in 1868 by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Filatov, whose wines went on to win medals at international exhibitions in the late 19th century. The winery still operates, producing wines, brandies and spirits, and it houses a small Museum of Winemaking that displays old bottles, equipment and the international awards the factory has collected over 150-plus years. The name comes later. Mikhail Khovrenko, a chemist who was Russia’s first professor of winemaking, took over the operation after Filatov and developed several of the sweet blends still on the list, among them Gulyakandoz, Shirin and Aleatico, according to the history summarised by VisitSilkRoad.
How the tasting works. In the tasting room you work through a flight of about ten small sampler glasses, from mild whites through the sweet wines and brandy to the dark Samarkand balsam, a herbal liqueur, as Travel Tomorrow described it. The visit usually includes the small museum of 19th-century winemaking tools, old labels and bottles, and the medals the winery has won. Tour operators sell it as a short outing with transfers, so ask how long the tasting itself lasts.
What the wines are like. Sweet first. The winery’s own presentation leads with dessert and fortified wines (Gulya Kandoz, Aleatiko, Shirin, Uzbekistan’s Muscat and a Kagor) and with its brandies, so anyone who drinks only dry wine may find just a few glasses to their taste and the rest closer to port or sherry. That is the house style, not a fault.
Practical points (last checked: October 2026):
- Address: Makhmud Kashgari Street, Samarkand, a walk or a short taxi ride from the Registan.
- Hours: listings give roughly 11:00 to 18:00, and the winery’s Yandex Maps entry shows a midday break. Sources don’t agree on exact times, so call ahead.
- Booking: the number on the winery’s map listing is +998 90 212 38 20. A September 2025 visitor review on that listing says tastings run only with at least four people, so solo travellers and couples should ask their hotel or a local agency to slot them into a group.
- Website: the winery lists xovrenko.uz, but it showed a “site suspended” page when we checked, so the phone is the reliable route.
- Price: we found no current price from the winery itself. Agencies quote their own package rates that include transport, so compare a direct booking with a tour before paying.
The shop on site sells the same wines and brandies to take away. See our Samarkand travel guide for how to slot the visit between the Registan and Shah-i-Zinda.
Bagizagan: Vineyards in the Zarafshan Valley
About 15 km outside Samarkand, Bagizagan is one of Uzbekistan’s largest wineries and the most polished wine-tourism experience in the country. The estate runs a full production cycle from vine to bottle in the Zarafshan River Valley, where the family behind it counts five generations of grape growers. Visits include a walk through the vineyards, an explanation of production, and a tasting that typically covers around six wines plus brandies and chacha (the fiery grape spirit borrowed from Georgia). We couldn’t find a price, schedule or opening days we could verify for 2026, so ask for the current tasting fee and hours when you book.
Uzumfermer: A Family Winery near Tashkent
If your trip starts and ends in the capital, Uzumfermer is the easiest tasting to arrange. This family-run winery on the outskirts of Tashkent grows an unusually wide range of grape varieties. Tastings, usually six or so wines, paired with cheese and fruit, happen in a pleasantly rustic garden setting, and advance booking with a small deposit is expected. It is a half-day trip from the city and a gentler, more personal experience than the big Samarkand factories. Between the three producers, you can build a legitimate mini wine trail across Uzbekistan.
Beyond Wine: The Drinks Locals Actually Drink
Green Tea: The National Drink
Nothing else comes close. Green tea (kok choy) is drunk before, during and after every meal, in homes, offices and the traditional teahouses called chaikhanas. It is served in a small pot with handleless bowls called piala, with a ritual attached: the host pours a bowl back into the pot three times to develop the brew, then serves guests a deliberately half-full bowl, a sign of respect that invites you to linger for refills. Black tea is more common in Tashkent; green dominates everywhere else, and it is free or nearly free with meals. We cover the full ceremony, and the rest of the table manners that go with it, in our Uzbek culture and etiquette guide.
Kompot: Fruit in a Glass
Kompot is the drink of Uzbek home cooking: seasonal fruit, cherries, apricots, apples, dried fruit in winter, simmered with sugar and served chilled. It is a Soviet-era staple that survives because it is delicious, and you will find it in cafeterias, guesthouses and family homes far more often than soft drinks. A glass usually costs pennies (a few thousand som) where it is charged at all. If you see it on a menu, order it; it goes especially well with plov, as we note in our complete Uzbek food guide.
Ayran and Fermented Dairy
Ayran is a salty yoghurt drink, cold and slightly sour, and it is the single best thing to drink alongside heavy Uzbek food in summer, it cuts through lamb fat like nothing else. You will also encounter katyk (a thicker fermented yoghurt) and, in rural areas, kumis, fermented mare’s milk, an acquired taste: fizzy, sour, faintly smoky. Ayran in a cafe costs roughly 5,000–10,000 som. Stick to commercially produced or restaurant-served versions if you have a sensitive stomach.
Beer: Sarbast and Friends
Uzbekistan has a modest but real beer culture. The big national brands are Sarbast and Pulsar, the latter brewed in Samarkand, both easy-drinking lagers built for hot weather; Qibray is another local beer brand, and Tashkent has a handful of brewpubs pouring unfiltered draft. Local beer is cheap in shops and costs roughly double that in restaurants, though excise rises keep pushing prices up; imported beer costs noticeably more. Beer gardens and terrace bars are a normal part of summer life in Tashkent and Samarkand, and nobody will look twice at you drinking one.
The Tashkent craft scene. It is small, and it lives almost entirely in the capital. Craft Brewing Company is a microbrewery and bar at Olmazor Street 185 in Bektemir district, on the south-eastern edge of the city, so budget a taxi rather than a walk; its 2GIS listing gives daily hours of 12:00 to 23:00. BeerBaşa on Seoul Street is a restaurant with its own brewhouse, open since 2015 according to its website, which also says guests get a free taster set of the house beer. For variety rather than atmosphere, the Pelikan chain of beer shops advertises up to 40 draught beers and more than 40 bottled craft and imported ones on its Telegram channel, with branches on Amir Temur avenue and in Mirobod among others. These are shops that sell beer to take away, which brings up the rule that catches visitors out (last checked: October 2026).
Where a beer is normal, and where it is not. A pint on a restaurant terrace, in a beer bar, at a hotel bar or at a wedding feast is entirely ordinary. Carrying a can from Pelikan to a park bench is not: the 2023 alcohol law bans drinking on streets, in squares, parks, stadiums, workplaces and on all public transport, and exempts restaurants and other catering venues and places where weddings and other celebrations are held. Outside Tashkent, expect the big lager brands rather than craft, and in smaller towns and the Fergana Valley many places serve no alcohol at all. Our guide to Tashkent after dark covers bar hours and prices.
Brandy (“Cognac”): Samarkand’s Other Speciality
Ask for brandy in Uzbekistan and you will be offered “cognac”, the name local producers still use for their grape brandy. It is an older tradition than most visitors expect. The Khovrenko winery’s own company presentation (2017, hosted by the Uzbek embassy in India) dates the start of its brandy distilling to 1890, two decades after the winery opened, and today it lists Filatov, Corona of Empire and Samarkand among its brandies, alongside the herbal Samarkand balsam that closes every tasting. In Tashkent, the Tashkentvino combine traces itself to 1867, when a distillery was built on the Salar canal, and now makes some 200 drinks including vodka, according to an industry note published by the Uzbek embassy in Malaysia. That same note names Samarkand, Tashkent, Bukhara, Kashkadarya and Surkhandarya as the main wine and brandy regions.
The easiest way to try it is the Khovrenko tasting, where brandy is part of the flight, and the winery shop sells bottles to take home. In shops, local brandy sits in the licensed spirits section next to the vodka; under the 2023 law alcohol may not be sold from self-service shelves, so a member of staff hands it over and, if you look under 21, asks for ID.
Vodka: The Soviet Inheritance
Vodka is the legacy spirit, and it still anchors celebrations, business dinners and family feasts, especially among older generations. If you are invited to a toast, know the norms: toasts are made standing or seated with a short speech, glasses are drained (or at least sipped meaningfully), and refusing outright can read as cold, though pleading health, medication or religion is widely accepted and hosts rarely push. Local vodka is cheap by international standards. Pace yourself: hosts refill empty glasses automatically, and the plov keeps coming.
Alcohol Availability and Etiquette in Uzbekistan
Here is the honest picture. Uzbekistan is over 90 percent Muslim by heritage but constitutionally secular, and alcohol is fully legal, socially normalised in many settings, and easy to find. The legal purchase age is 21, raised from 20 when the law “On restricting the distribution and consumption of alcohol and tobacco products” came into force on 26 August 2023, as Kun.uz reported; sellers must ask for ID from anyone who looks younger. Supermarket chains such as Korzinka have licensed liquor sections, dedicated vino-vodka shops exist in every city, and most tourist-oriented restaurants in Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva serve beer and wine, with many also pouring spirits. Hotels aimed at foreigners almost always have a bar. Alcohol sales became card-only from 1 April 2026; since 1 June hotels, cafes and restaurants may take cash again (shops aren't named in the exemption), so carry a card for shop purchases.
That said, availability thins out as you move away from tourist zones. Traditional chaikhanas and small local canteens are often dry, some family-run guesthouses prefer you not to bring alcohol in (ask first), and in conservative areas like the Fergana Valley you will see far less public drinking. During Ramadan, restaurants generally keep serving alcohol to tourists in the main cities, Uzbekistan does not shut down the way Gulf countries can, but some smaller places quietly stop, and drinking conspicuously in the street during the fasting month is poor form anywhere. Public drunkenness is frowned on, and drinking alcohol in public places such as streets, parks and public transport is illegal year-round under Article 24 of the 2023 law (an unofficial English translation is online). The same law bars shops within 100 metres, in a straight line, of schools, sports facilities and religious organisations from selling alcohol, unless the shop is inside a large mall or market, so don’t expect a liquor counter next to a mosque or madrasah. Keep your drinking to restaurants, bars, hotels and private settings and you will never have a problem. A useful local overview of the current rules and reality is Tourfixer’s alcohol-in-Uzbekistan guide.
On cost: alcohol is one of the cheaper line items in an already inexpensive country. We haven’t re-checked 2026 shelf prices, which drift with excise and the exchange rate, so the table below shows how prices compare rather than som figures (see our Uzbekistan travel costs breakdown for current figures):
| Drink | Shop price (approx.) | Restaurant price (approx.) |
|---|---|---|
| Local beer (0.5 L) | Cheap | About double the shop price |
| Local wine (bottle) | Several times a beer | Roughly double to triple the shop price |
| Local vodka (0.5 L) | Cheap for a spirit | By the 50 ml shot |
| Pot of green tea | Not applicable | Free or a small charge |
A few etiquette points worth internalising:
- Never assume your hosts drink. Offer nothing, accept graciously if offered, and follow their lead.
- If you join a vodka table, eat as you drink. That is what the endless salads are for.
- Declining alcohol is completely fine; raising your glass of kompot or tea for the toast keeps everyone happy.
- Do not drink near mosques, madrasahs or during religious observances, and keep bottles out of sight in the street.
- During festivals like Navruz the drink of the moment is sumalak and tea, not wine, read our Navruz and festivals guide before a spring trip.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can tourists drink alcohol in Uzbekistan?
Yes, legally and easily. Uzbekistan is a secular state; alcohol is sold in licensed shops and supermarkets and served in most tourist restaurants, bars and hotels. The legal purchase age is 21. The only real constraints are social: drink in appropriate venues, stay composed in public, and be a little more discreet during Ramadan and in conservative regions.
Is Uzbek wine actually good?
It is interesting more than it is world-class, and that is the right frame to enjoy it. The hot climate produces very ripe grapes, so the tradition leans sweet and fortified, dessert wines and brandies are the strengths. Newer producers like Bagizagan and Uzumfermer make credible dry wines too. Go for the history and the novelty; you may leave pleasantly surprised.
How do I visit the Khovrenko winery in Samarkand?
Book ahead rather than turning up: phone the number on the winery’s map listing, or ask your hotel or a local agency, ideally a day in advance. A recent visitor review says tastings need at least four people, so smaller parties may need to join a group. The visit pairs the small museum with about ten glasses of wine, brandy and balsam. Hours vary between listings, so reconfirm.
Can I drink a beer in a park or on the street in Uzbekistan?
No. The 2023 alcohol law bans drinking on streets, in squares, parks, stadiums, workplaces and on public transport, everywhere in the country and all year. Restaurants, bars, cafes, hotel bars and venues hosting weddings or similar celebrations are exempt. Buy from a shop if you like, but drink it in your room or at a licensed table, not on a bench.
Is alcohol served during Ramadan in Uzbekistan?
Generally yes in tourist-focused restaurants, hotels and shops in the main cities: Uzbekistan does not impose a public ban. Some smaller local places pause service, and visible street drinking during the fasting month is disrespectful. In short: your trip will not be dry, but read the room.
What non-alcoholic drinks should I try in Uzbekistan?
Green tea from a piala in a chaikhana is non-negotiable. Beyond that: kompot (homemade fruit drink), ayran (salty yoghurt drink, perfect with plov), fresh pomegranate juice in autumn, and sumalak if you are lucky enough to be here for Navruz. Tap water is not recommended; bottled water is cheap and everywhere.
Can I bring Uzbek wine home?
Yes, within your home country’s allowance (4 litres of wine for the EU, 1 litre duty-free for the US). Wineries and vino-vodka shops sell bottles suitable for packing; wrap them well in checked luggage, and check current customs allowances before you pack more than that.
Uzbekistan’s drinks scene is one of its quietest pleasures: a 150-year-old winery hidden a few streets from the Registan, a cold ayran after a plate of plov, a pot of green tea that turns into an hour of conversation. Drink curiously, toast generously, and let the chaikhana set your pace. For what to eat alongside all of it, start with our Uzbek food guide, and come hungry.