Prognosis for 2010 grape harvest

The Georgian grape harvest will start on August 24 and last a month and a half, announced Minister of Agriculture Bakur Kvezereli. We hope this is an accurate prognosis because the harvest should start when the product is ready. The Minister added that the quantity of grapes harvested and their quality are expected to be lower than last year's, due to hail and weather conditions.

The Minister could not quantify how big a harvest was expected. The best grape harvest of the last five years was in 2007, at 227,000 tonnes, in 2006 it was 163,000 tonnes, in 2008 it was 130,000 tonnes and in 2009 180,000 tonnes. Since the Russian embargo on Georgian wine grape production and the wine industry have faced serious problems, and although Georgian wine has largely entered alternative markets the volume of sales is still smaller than it was before the Russian embargo.