Georgian Wine - National Wine Agency

The National Wine Agency calls the information reported by one of the TV companies about the vintage failure in Kakheti a complete lie.
It should be noted that the harvest in Kakheti is starting now. All resources are mobilized to hold the harvest in an organized and successful way, as in previous years.
In Kakheti region, vineyards are cultivated on a total area of 35 thousand hectares. The accommodation of the major part of the grape harvest, throughout the region, will start in the coming days and will proceed smoothly.
On August 26, heavy hail and wind damaged 4600 hectares of vineyards in Kakheti region, Gurjaani, Telavi and Kvareli municipalities. The degree of damage varies from location to location and ranges from 10% to 90%.
The National Wine Agency emphasizes that the information reported by the above-mentioned TV station, as if the viticulturists were not given the opportunity to accommodate the harvest damaged by the disaster, is an absolute lie. On the second day after the disaster, August 27, according to the instructions of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, the state-owned enterprise Crop Management Company Ltd. started receiving hail-damaged grapes at three locations in an organized manner and mobilized to meet the harvest accommodation process.
According to the government's decision, the viticulturists, whose harvest was 100% destroyed by the hail, will receive 3000 GEL per hectare area as a one-time compensation. The growers will be able to hand over the grapes damaged as a result of the hail until September 3: 1 kg of Rkatsiteli for 0.80 GEL and 1 kg of Saperavi for 1 GEL.
In addition, the calculation of the losses of the beneficiaries of the state program of agricultural insurance affected by hail has already begun. From state insurance beneficiaries, insurance companies have received more than 2500 messages. The state finances 70% of the insurance policy for all crops and 50% for vines.
In the TV report, there were also contradictory accusations - it was said that the government does not help the affected viticulturists, one of the respondents, a politician, assessed the decision of the government to bribe the farmers in the run-up to the elections.
In the same report, the conversation touched on the existing queues by the factories. It should be noted that with the transition to the active phase of grape processing, queues of those wishing to deliver grapes to factories is a part of the working process.
According to the data of August 30, from August 27 to date, up to 2.2 thousand tons of hail-damaged grapes have been processed, which were delivered to the factories by about 600 winegrowers - their income reaches 2 million GEL.
The National Wine Agency calls to politicians not to spread misinformation and not to try to ignore the unprecedented support that the state has been providing for the development of the vine-growing sector in recent years.