Armenia Unable to Fill Wine Gap in Russia

Remember our earlier post about Armenian wines in Russia with Georgia out of the picture?

A parliament member Manvel Ghazarian, who is also the owner of one of the biggest Armenian wineries - Vedi Alco - lamented yesterday that Armenian wineries are unable to fill the gap in Russian wine market that has emerged after its authorities banned imports of Georgian and Moldavian wines last year.

He said Moldova and Russia were selling about 200 million bottles of wine in Russia, while all Armenian wineries can produce together about 10 million bottles of wine. Ghazarian said the ban on Russian and Moldavian wines has prompted a bigger interest in Armenian products.

I wonder if there is a market in Russia for cheap Californian wines? If I am asbent for weeks, you will know why!

Source: ArmenPress

Armenia Sells A Lot of Wines

Armenia is known for its fine wines. And guess what? Now the whole world knows about them!

In 2006, the export of Armenian wines to Russia rose by 30%. According to a rough figure, Armenia produced over 1.2 million bottles of wine, 80% of which was sold in Russia. Russia's banning of Georgian wine has meant soaring demand for Armenian wine.

For comparison, Armenia exported almost 300,000 bottles of wine in 2005. Quite an increase, huh?

Incidentally, brandy and vodka production has decreased:

Brandy production in Armenia in January-November of 2006 made 7,589.9 thousand liters, having decreased by 4.7%, as compared to the same period of 2005.

...vodka and distillery production in January-November of 2006 made 10,751.8 thousand liters, having decreased by 11.5%, as compared to the same period of 2005.

Say goodbye to drinking for the sake of getting drunk and say hello to the new breed of sophisticated wine and cheese lovers!

Maybe not, but interesting numbers regardless!

Sources:
Yerevan.ru (translated)
ArmeniaNow
ArmeniaInfo