Georgia’s grape harvest is expected to reach around 300,000 tons this year, about 10% below last year’s record 330,000 tons, according to Zuka Maisashvili, founder of winery “Gvinuka.” However, he expects the quality of the grapes to improve significantly.
Maisashvili said this year’s harvest introduces a major change, with grape prices increasingly tied to sugar content and quality rather than volume. The new pricing model is intended to encourage farmers to produce smaller quantities of higher-quality grapes, rather than maximize yields at the expense of quality.
Under the new system, high-quality Saperavi with sugar content of at least 21% will receive GEL 1.50 per kilogram, while lower-quality grapes will fetch GEL 0.90 or GEL 0.30 depending on sugar content and condition. For Rkatsiteli, grapes with sugar content of 21% or higher will receive GEL 1.30 per kilogram.
According to Maisashvili, the shift could encourage farmers to reduce vineyard yields from as much as 25 tons per hectare to around 10–12 tons while achieving sugar levels above 22%. He expects the harvest to be slightly smaller but believes Georgia will ultimately produce higher-quality grapes and wine this year.
