National Wine Agency: No grounds for questioning Georgian wine quality
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, June 26
Georgian NWA claims that in parallel with the growth of wine export, the Georgian side pays particular attention to the preservation and improvement of Georgian wine quality.
“Quality control is one of the main priorities in the National Wine Agency, and the work in this direction has been strengthened in recent years. It is important that tens of millions of bottles of wine produced in Georgia should meet the relevant standards. We believe that there is no objective basis for doubting the quality of Georgian export products,” the statement issued by the agency reads.
The agency says one of the main objectives of the Georgian winemaking industry regulatory body - National Wine Agency, is the promotion and control of the high quality of Georgian wine.
“According to the amendments to the Law of Georgia on Vine and Wine in 2017, tasting became mandatory for all categories of export wine since January 1, 2018. Until January 1, 2018, the mandatory tasting was only subjected to appellation wines. The initiative of the amendment came from the private sector and aimed to improve the quality of the wine,” the NWA said.
The National Wine Agency also says in the first quarter of this year, the NWA tasting commission conducted 58 tastings for the organoleptic testing of the alcoholic drinks of grape origin. In total, 2115 samples were presented, and 196 of them were negatively evaluated.
According to the agency, during the current year, 370 samples have been taken from wine factories within the wine industry inspection, which is an average of 50% in comparison with the same period of the last years. “Companies were refused to issue certificates of export compliance in 24 cases. 30 companies were examined within the scope of state control and state supervision, out of which a number of wines of six companies were not in line with the requirements set by the law,” it added.
In addition to verifying other parameters of wine, this year the alcoholic carbon stabilization isotope correlation is also checked.
Russia’s Rospotrebnadzor stated two days ago that the quantity of substandard Georgian alcohol nearly tripled to 203,000 liters between 2014 and 2018, necessitating new quality controls for Georgian imports to Russia.
“The Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing systematically monitors the quality and safety of alcohol entering the territory of the Russian Federation from Georgia. The dynamic of regular control shows the deterioration of alcohol quality,” the statement of Russian regulator reads.
Georgia’s NWA indicates that almost half of Georgian wine exports go to Russia, and Russian federal data indicates that Georgia is consistently the third or fourth-largest exporter of wine to Russia in the world.
The decision of tightening Georgian wine control followed Putin’s June 21 decree, according to which, flights with Georgia are banned from July 8, 2019.