Georgian Qvevri Wines & Winemaking Culture Presented in France

Georgian Qvevri wines and Georgia’s winemaking traditions were presented in France, the National Wine Agency of Georgia (GNWA) reports, with Georgian Qvevri wine producers participating in two exhibitions of natural wines, ‘Les Penitentes’ in the city of Anzhe and ‘La Dive Boutteille’ in the city of Saumur, France.

‘La Dive Boutteille’ is one the largest natural wine exhibitions in France, and is hosted by famous French winemakers, while the most famous natural wine producers from all over the world traditionally attend the ‘Les Penitentes’ exhibition.

“The Georgian wine stand this year was visited by internationally renowned wine expert, Isabel Lejeron,” the GNWA stated.

Georgian wines were presented at the exhibitions for the 8th time this year, and saw participation of wine companies ‘Iago's Wine,’ ‘Mandili,’ ‘Pheasant's Tears,’ ‘Marani Lagazi,’ ‘GOGO Wine / Artanuli Wine,’ ‘Kortavebis Marani,’ ‘Ramaz Nikoladze's Wine Cellar’ and ‘Oqro's Wine.’

Georgian wine tastings will be held in specialized wine shops and bars in the French cities of Nantes, Rennes and Lorriane.

The GNWA states that 100,000 bottles of Georgian wine were exported to France in 2017, 178% more than the previous year, the main export share of which was Qvevri wines. In January 2018, according to the GNWA, 12 million bottles of wine were exported from Georgia to 24 countries worldwide, which is said to be 18% higher than the same period of 2017. The overall value amounted to $11.4 million approximately, making 31% growth y/y.

Export, according to the GNWA, also increased to Kazakhstan by 108%, Hong Kong (100%), Japan (95%), Latvia (90%), Ukraine (55%), Russia (24%), Poland (13%), Israel (12%), and The Netherlands by 39%.

The top exporter countries for Georgian wine are: Russia, Ukraine, China, Kazakhstan and Poland.

Nino Gugunishvili