Leaders Anapa zonal experimental station of viticulture and winemaking in its 105 year history

The article highlights the history of one of the oldest scientific institutions in viticulture and winemaking sector of Russia - Anapa zonal experimental station of viticulture and winemaking and the role of the directors of the station during the period from creation of the institutions till present time. The history of the station is inextricably linked with the history of the country: the pre-revolutionary period, the 1917 Revolution, the Civil War, the post-war period, the Great Patriotic War, post-war period, modern times. At each stage the leaders of the scientific institution passed tests for their professionalism. In evaluating the station executives for the 105-year period of its operation, a few of them are distinguished, whose activities were the most important and productive. They are: first of all, the founder of the exemplary estate on winemaking with an experimental field of viticulture of the Kuban Cossack Army Zhurbey P.E.; members of the Committee (typical management agencies of the post-revolutionary time) for Managing the Experimental Station: Krasnokutsky V.P., Keller A.V., Tseydler E.D. who could organize the work of the station in the hardest conditions; Professor Merzhanian A.S. who in the 1930-s formed a solidary team of scientists at the station by attracting the most talented specialists; Baliaev A.V. who organized during the wartime the continuation of researches in evacuation to Georgia and after returning from the evacuation - in Anapa; Safaryan A.M. and Zhukov A.I. who in the period of rapid development of viticulture in the Soviet Union in 1960-1980s ensured the scientific basis of the sector, especially in wide introduction of the grafted sorts of grapes in the Kuban region.