Georgian wine faces serious competition in Russia - experts
TBILISI. June 10 (Interfax) - Georgian wine, after a seven-year absence from the Russian market, will not be as inexpensive as it was before, and faces stiff competition, head of the Union of Sommeliers and Experts of Russia Artur Sarkisian said.
"A bottle of Georgian wine will cost at least four hundred rubles, and in this pricing segment in Russia it faces serious competition from Italian, Chilean, and other wines," Sarkisian told the press in Tbilisi on Saturday.
Along with a large group of Russian experts and journalists, Sarkisian is taking part in the international wine and alcoholic beverage exhibition WinExpo Georgia 2013.
"If Georgian wine can prove it is of better quality, I'm sure the Russian consumer will have to pay attention to it," Sarkisian said.
President of the Associations of Sommeliers of Russia Alexei Sidorov shared his own view. "Georgian wine is very much missed on the Russian market," he said.
Early in February, Russia and Georgian agreed a mechanism providing access to the Russian market for Georgian product. It involves Federal Service for Health and Consumer Rights (Rospotrebnadzor) specialists traveling to Georgia and the state registration of Georgian product in the Russian Federation for shipments to begin.