Grape harvest 2017: 85,000 tonnes of grape processed
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The grape harvest is continuing actively in Georgia’s eastern wine region of Kakheti, where as of today, 85,000 tonnes of grape has already been processed.
As a result, the income of about 11,000 grape growers in Kakheti region has reached 96 million GEL, announced the Georgian National Wine Agency.
About 100 wine companies are involved in grape processing, which on average process about 5,000 tonnes of grape per day.
As the Wine Agency reported, the grape harvest is almost completed in Dedoplistskaro and Sighnaghi areas of Kakheti, while the remaining seven municipalities are still continuing to reap the benefits of a bumper harvest.
Local growers have processed the following grape varieties:
- Rkatsiteli - 40,000 tonnes
- Saperavi – 39,000 tonnes
- Kakhuri Mtsvane – 2,600 tonnes
To date most grapes were processed in Kakheti’s Kvareli municipality – 28,400 tonnes.
Followed by:
- Gurjaani – 23,200 tonnes
- Telavi – 15,100 tonnes
- Sighnaghi – 8,000 tonnes
- Lagodekhi – 3,000 tonnes
- Dedoplistskaro – 2,200 tonnes
- Akhmeta – 2,500 tonnes
- Sagarejo – 2,000 tonnes
Farmers from Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region, famous for its ancient tradition of winemaking, have received 76.6 million GEL (31 mln USD) through selling their grapes to wineries, official figures read.
Grape growers in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region are continuing to reap the benefits of a bumper harvest.
Georgia’s National Wine Agency says that 18.6 thousand tons of grapes have already been processed in Georgia’s eastern Kakheti region.
As summer draws to an end Georgia’s grape harvest season is just beginning with experts estimating 150,000 tonnes of grapes this year will be picked.
Georgia is reducing dependence on potato imports as this year local farmers harvested enough to meet the needs of the local market.
The grape harvest is almost over in Georgia's main wine growing region Kakheti but the action continues in the northwestern Racha-Lechkhumi region, where a small amount of very unique grapes are grown.
"Since independence we have not sold so many wines in terms of quantity as well as in terms of amount of money,” said Georgia’s Agriculture Minister Levan Davitashvili who today summarised the grape harvest of 2017.
The government of Georgia has decided not to subsidise the grape harvest this year, announces the Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Levan Davitashvili.
The 2018 grape harvest is in full swing in Georgia’s wine region of Kakheti. This will be the first grape harvest in the last 10 years that has not been subsidised by the state.