Georgian Wine - National Wine Agency

The information about the activities carried out by LEPL National Wine Agency in 2017 was heard at today's session of the Agrarian Issues Committee. Giorgi Samanishvili, Head of the National Wine Agency introduced the information to the legislators and spoke about the main directions  and  activities carried out by the agency in the eleven months of this year.
The National Wine Agency is under the Ministry of Agriculture and main directions of its activities are defined by the Budget Law. Directions are the following:
• Vintage Promotion Program;
• Viticulture development activities;
• Laboratory research of wine;
• Promotion of the origin of Georgian vine;
• Georgian wine popularization promotion activities.
Giorgi Samanishvili introduced the details of the activities implemented in each direction to the members of the committee and stated that  this year, the achievements in viticulture and winemaking are so eye-catching as never before in the  recent years.
Despite the fact that the state did not have massive subsidies, the grape harvest was more than last year - 128 thousand tons, and viticulture revenues exceeded 153 million GEL. According to Giorgi Samanishvili, in comparison with the last year, the price of grapes has increased slightly.
According to him, the Agency has continued to create the Georgian viticulture department cadastre this year. In addition, this process included the vineyards of Akhmeta municipality, where up to 6 thousand vineyards were observed. The Agency has also activated wine laboratory studies which significantly improved the quality of the final product.
As  the head of the National Wine Agency stated, according to the program of popularization of Georgian vine origin, research and popularization of Georgian viticulture and winemaking culture and history is carried out in the following  three directions: the oldest remains of the Eneolithian period and the subsequent period, the diversity of Georgian grape varieties and the Georgian wine culture of medieval. In this regard, this year is particularly important - the oldest trace of Georgian wine has been  officially confirmed, dating back to  6000-5800 BC. Before this discovery, the oldest remains were obtained in the Iranian territory. Scientists from different countries have been involved in the program of popularization of Georgian grape origin and their workshop was held in  Bordeaux this year.

According to Giorgi Samanishvili, the agency also cares about the promotion of Georgian wines around the world and carries out various promotion  activities. Up to 200 events have been held for the Georgian wine presentation and promotion  this year - wine exhibitions, competitions, tastings, presentations. "We are trying to represent Georgian wine to all important events around the world. Georgian wine participated in up to 20 international professional exhibitions this year," - stated the Head of the Agency. According to him, the exhibition of Georgian wine culture in Bordeaux, in the center of the Wine Civilization had the special importance, which lasted for several months.
The fact that Georgian wine is becoming increasingly popular in the world is reflected in export data -  this year, over 70 million bottles have been exported. The list of the  countries where the demand for Georgian wine is increasing has expanded. According to Giorgi Samanishvili, the legislation role  is also important in the growth of Georgian wine quality and its popularity. This year, "The Law on Vine and Wine" has been almost completely renewed and the head of the Agency hopes that fulfillment of the requirements of the law will undoubtedly contribute to export growth. The speaker answered the questions of the committee members.
According to Gela Samkharauli, First Deputy Chairman of the Agrarian Issues  Committee, the revival of viticulture and winemaking in Georgia started in 2012. "Impressive growth has been observed since 2013 and this year we have already achieved the  largest number of wine exported in the history of independent Georgia. We have also developed such markets where previously export was not carried out at all. This is the result of the considered approaches and I want to thank everyone, first of all, the agency, the ministry, and the government, and of course our colleagues in the parliament, because these legislative amendments and reforms in general have enabled us to achieve  such impressive results, "- stated Gela Samkharauli. He hopes that with the support of the Agency, the use of new varieties in the industry will be further expanded, which will diversify Georgian wine.
Finally, the Chairman of the Agrarian Issues  Committee Otar Danelia summarized the meeting:
We can say that winemaking and viticulture is really at the height of the call and not only in Georgia, but the whole world already knows about it. It is also worth mentioning that the exhibition will be presented in different countries and it will travel to the whole world. This will further  popularize Georgian wine and  the next year will also be quite loaded in this direction. One thing I want to ask is to pay more attention to the diversity that colleagues have already mentioned. We have a lot of interesting grape varieties, it needs definite  popularization and as some funds were released from the vintage, the request will be to prepare special programs from the next year to restore endemic, ancient grape varieties and develop winemaking in different regions of Georgia, including the regions not famous of winemaking  - for example, Samegrelo, Guria, etc., I think it will  encourage agro-tourism and wine tourism and winemaking diversities according to the regions will make Georgia even more attractive ", - stated Mr. Danelia.
The Committee has received the information presented.