International exhibition of wine and spirits was opened today in exhibition center ExpoGeorgia. The exhibition, being hold under the aegis of Agriculture Ministry and with assistance of German Technical Cooperation Association (GTZ), hosts 58 companies. Along with Georgian wine makers, companies from Estonia, Germany, Italy, Moldova, Portugal, Russia and the US are represented.
Petre Tsiskarishvili, Agriculture Minister, joked, while opening the exebition, despite 7,000 years of Georgian wine making history, the exhibition of such kind is held for the first time.
Georgian wine companies were presented by Bagrationi 1882 (sparkling wine), which carries out export mainly in Ukraine, Vazis Tsremli (tear of vine), exporting in Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the US, and others.
Georgian-Italian Badagoni said that production is exported in 8 countries, supplies to Canada and the US are planned. Negotiations with African countries are undergoing as well.
As Teliani Veli said, exports are being carried out in 21 countries. The company has suffered severe damage because of Russian ban on Georgian wines, as 55% of our export accounted for Russia, representative of Teliani Veli said.
As Tsiskarishvili assures, quality of Georgian wine has remarkably improved after Russian embargo (spring 2006). We carry out “serious reform” and wine quality “is improving day by day”, he has noted today.
It should be noted, that Russian embargo has impact Georgian export volume, as its major part accounted for Russia.
According to Samtrest, Georgian department of wine and vine, export made up 127,651 decaliter (dal) of wine in January-March – 7.5 times less than the same figures of 2006. On such background, the export in Ukraine has increased, reached 60% of total. Wine export in 2006 made up 1.5 million dal, i.e. 3 times less than figures of 2005.
