Iago Bitarishvili, the founder of wine company "Iago’s Wine", thinks that the current practice of subsidizing grapes hinders the improvement of the quality of raw materials and, accordingly, the growth of Georgian wine sales.
According to him, subsidy will not assist to have high-quality wine for exporting, on the contrary, the program subsidizes the damaged grape, from which making good wine is excluded.
“If the wine is not good, sales will suffer. One thing we have to agree is that there should be a plan to withdraw from the subsidy project. The winegrowers themselves are also dissatisfied, so I don't know who is satisfied with this subsidy, which is financed by the budget," said Bitarishvili.
He believes that the money intended for subsidy may be directed towards marketing, thus the country will get much more.
"The amount allocated for subsidy is not small. Marketing financing in potential countries will bring good results", - says Iago Bitarishvili.
The predicted volume of grape harvest is about 300,000 tons in 2024, and as a result of the subsidy, more than 20,000 winegrowers will be able to sell their harvest.
