Former head of the National Wine Agency, Giorgi Samanishvili, says the new permit system for establishing commercial vineyards is not a quality-improvement tool but a symptom of deeper structural problems in the sector. According to him, large producers will be able to comply, while small farmers will be discouraged by bureaucracy and costs.
He argues that requirements such as soil testing, expert inspections, and mandatory certified seedlings significantly increase the cost and complexity of vineyard development, especially in regions with small plots. In his view, this could also harm Georgia’s grape biodiversity and reduce new vineyard planting in practice.
Samanishvili also warns that the regulation creates corruption risks and may push small producers to ignore the rules altogether. He suggests that many farmers will simply bypass the requirements due to the difficulty and uncertainty of compliance.
Overall, he concludes that the policy is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of improving quality and instead functions as an overly restrictive, post-Soviet-style regulation that may eventually be changed or abandoned.
