Georgian Wine - National Wine Agency

"The state has allocated 100 million GEL in the budget. This is quite a large number, but it is necessary to maintain the stability and development prospects of the wine sector, "- said the Minister of Environment and Agriculture, Levan Davitashvili at a government meeting today.
"We expect a pretty good quality harvest this year; We also have an increase in quantity. Mr. Prime Minister, you mentioned the vineyards planted in the last few years and this trend continues. This year, due to the pandemic, there is still some imbalance between the demand for raw materials and private companies, and not only in Georgia; I would like to clarify that such a difficult situation in the wine sector is created in practically every country. Nevertheless, we have an increase in exports and this year we expect further data improvements, however this is enough; The growth expectation was even higher. We planned an increase of about 15-20%, while the real growth is in the range of 7-8%, which is not enough; Consequently, the state is intervening to balance prices, make farmers' wages adequate, and maintain the motivation for them to continue operating in the years to come.
This year we expect to process about 300,000 tons of grapes industrially. This will be another record in terms of independence, but given that we need to increase exports in the future, to triple what we have presented in the 10-year plan, we need to increase the raw material base and continue the trend of vineyards and new production in the country.
That is why it is our responsible decision to intervene this year as well, to balance, to alleviate the results of Covid, both viticulturists-farmers and wine cellars, in order to maintain stable development of the field for the coming years, "Levan Davitashvili said. 
As the Minister noted, the Ministry is fully prepared to conduct the harvest process in an organized manner. "We had communication with almost all farmers. Since 2014, we have started introducing an electronic passport system of vineyards. This is the most important element of Georgian wine quality control. This year, the whole region of Kakheti and Racha-Lechkhumi will be covered with electronic passports or we will have accurate data on the situation in each vineyard and, therefore, we will have full information on crop capacity to ensure the traceability of Georgian wine, which further leads to reliability. I am sure this year's vintage will be especially well organized. I would like to thank the staff of the Ministry - we did not stop the work process during the pandemic. You hope that all the vineyards will be fully covered for the harvest, however, we also have an alternative, in case any farmer fails to register, they will be able to register during the harvest as well. I call on our viticulturist farmers to simplify the process, to make it easier to deliver the harvest, to have no delays, to minimize queues, to pre-register their vineyards in advance, which is possible in Kakheti and Racha-Lechkhumi regions. "Mr. Prime Minister, I think everything has been done with your support to help our ministry meet these challenges," Levan Davitashvili said.