Georgian wine problems

Since the Russian embargo on Georgian wine was imposed in 2006 Georgian wine producers have begun searching for alternative markets. Georgian wines are now exported to many more countries, but the quantities sold do not come close to what was sold in Russia before 2006. Moreover in 2009, probably because of the world economic crisis, Georgian wine exports decreased. In the first 11 months of 2009 10 million bottles of Georgian wine were exported to 46 countries, however this is 1.5 million bottles less than in 2008.

The export of Georgian wine to Ukraine has decreased by more than 2 million bottles compared to 2008, from 6.4 million to 4 million. The same tendency can be observed in exports to Latvia and the USA as well. However there are some more optimistic figures. Over 1.5 million bottles were exported to Kazakhstan last year, whereas in 2008 this figure was a little bit less than 1 million. In Belarus more than 1 million bottles were sold, as opposed to less than a million in 2008.

In 2009 Georgian wines reached new markets as well. For the first time they were exported to Denmark, Luxembourg and Uzbekistan.