Saakashvili Visits Kvareli

The President of Georgia toured the Tbilgvino factory in Kvareli. Mikheil Saakashvili attended the grape pressing process with employees of the factory and expressed interest in how farmers sell their grapes.

"Our grape can be compared with the grape grown in Chile, Italy, California. However in order for our wine to become as popular as others we should invest in it. We are opening a Georgian wine bar in Washington, DC. Also we will hand a bottle of wine to tourists who come to Georgia and everyone will be aware what kind of wine we produce. Georgia is the homeland of wine.” he said.

Talking to locals Saakashvili emphasized that they should do everything to ensure that the quality of Georgian wine will be maintained in the future. Doing so will guarantee that Georgian wine will have a place in the world market, Saakashvili said.

"One political force spends money around the world saying that the quality of Georgian wine is catastrophic and tells people not to drink it.” Saakashvili said. The Georgian President was referring to Georgian Dream leader Bidzina Ivanishvili. Ivanishvili stated a few days ago while meeting with residents of Racha that despite some measures taken by the government the Georgian wine industry still does not have the quality it should have. Saakashvili reminded his audience about similar Russian statements about Georgian wine when they imposed an embargo on Georgian wine several years ago.