Why Are Armenian Wines Not Competitive in the Global Market?

Armenia cannot produce wines that will meet international standards as there are no high-quality species of grape in Armenia, Winemakers’ Union of Armenia President Avag Harutyunyan said at a press conference today.

According to Avagyan, usually it takes a long time to solve this type of problem, and even if a solution is found, it will take about 25 years to have high-quality grapes.

“We do not have thousands of hectares of land that yield good-quality grapes; we have only 500-600 hectares. While our partners overseas constantly require high-quality produce,” said Harutyunyan.

In his words, the next challenge the winemaking sector is facing now is related to a disease called filoksera winiec that was found in Armavir marz (province) last year and that must be fought against at a state level.

“A special body must be created which will do all the work to fight against this disease. Otherwise, we will have serious problems,” said he.

Harutyunyan also complained about the state in which the winemaking equipments are now, adding their average age has reached 50 years, when they should be substituted by new ones once in every 10–15 years.

Winemakers’ Union of Armenia has on numerous occasions turned to the RA Ministry of Agriculture so that whenever the ministry proposes programs to international bodies, it must also include improvements in the winemaking sector.

“It will make it possible to develop the sector through grants but the Ministry of Agriculture says it has more serious problems [than that],” concluded Harutunyan.