Heavy hail damages vineyards, houses in wine region of Kakheti

Heavy hail has damaged vineyards and houses in several municipalities of the Georgian wine region of Kakheti.

Kakheti Governor Irakli Shioshvili promised that all the damaged houses would be repaired. 

We currently have information that seven houses are damaged in Sagarejo municipality and three houses in Kvareli municipality. All the houses will be repaired and people will not be in any danger", Shioshvili said.

The amount of damage has not been determined at this stage.

Heavy hail and wind hit the Kvareli, Telavi and Gurjaani municipalities in August also, destroying 4,600 ha of vineyards in about 30 villages. 

In order to save the remaining grapes farmers decided to start the grape harvest in August, instead of September this year.

As of September 22, about 164,000 tonnes of grapes have been processed in Kakheti.