Gov’t continues vintage subsidies in 2023

A meeting to prepare for the 2023 vintage was held today under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at the Government Administration.

According to the government’s press office, the attendees planned concrete steps to organize the vintage.

As the Prime Minister emphasized, “It is necessary for vineyard keepers to sell their crops for a good price, so that the stable development dynamic achieved in the area of viticulture and viniculture in the recent years may grow even stronger.”

According to a decision made at the meeting, vintage subsidies will continue in 2023 as well. The state will subsidize grapes with 0.2 GEL, and the minimal price of white grapes will be 0.9 GEL per kilogram.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Otar Shamugia pointed out that the wine export is growing, with about 30% growth recorded last year and equally high growth in the first six months of this year registered as well. Last year 103 million liters of wine worth 252 million USD was exported to 66 countries of the world, the highest amount in the history of independent Georgia. According to the Minister, the demand for quality grapes is growing alongside wine export.

The meeting attendees noted that given the climatic conditions, “it is expected that a portion of grapes to be harvested this year may not be of desired quality. On the Government’s decision, state-owned companies will accept damaged grapes and no grapes will remain unsold.”