Photo by Gagrule.net durring Adopt A village project.
YEREVAN, January 12. /ARKA/. Armenia’s wine production in 2016 surged by 30%, Avag Harutyunyan, the head of the Union of Armenian Winemakers, told a news conference today, citing what he described as ‘unofficial sources.’
In his words, local wineries produced at least 6 million bottles of wine, of which 4 million were grape wines. He also said that over the past seven years wine consumption in Armenia has been on the rise with many citizens shifting from vodka to that strong drink.
Avag Harutyunyan also claimed that according to the available data, many Armenian families had on their New Year tables locally-manufactured wines .
“Overall, in recent years, imports of foreign wines to Armenia decreased from 500 thousand to 200 thousand bottles, attributed to emergence of high-quality locally-made wines, as well as to growing confidence in the domestic manufacturer,” Harutyunyan said.
“Nevertheless, Armenia exports only 2 million bottles of wine per year, while the neighboring Georgia exports up to 35 million bottles. The problem is that Armenia does not have enough resources for the production of cheap wines in the price range of $1- $1.5 per bottle, which are in the greatest demand across the Eurasian Economic Union”, said Harutyunyan.
He also reminded of the Soviet legacy, when Armenia, unlike Georgia, was perceived as a brandy-producing country rather than wine.
According to official statistics, in January-November 2016 Armenia’s wine production has increased by 15.6% to 5.8 million liters. -0-