ARMENIAN WINE EXPORTERS TO CREATE WINES OF ARMENIA UMBRELLA BRAND
Thursday, November 29, 20:06
The Armenian wine exporters have decided to create a Wines of Armenia
umbrella brand and to establish a union that will protect the brand,
President of the Union of Armenian Wine Makers Avag Harutyunyan told
journalists on Thursday.
He said that the brand will be created in the framework of the
memorandum of mutual understanding signed by the Government and the
country’s wine producers on Nov 27, the Government’s wine making
strategy for 2012-2020 and the plan of action for 2012-2015.
The brand will belong to the Government, who will allow applying it
to specific exported wine if it complies with relevant requirements.
The first step to present the brand will be Armenia’s participation
in Prodexpo 2013 in Moscow in Feb 2013. The Government will provide
40,000-50,000 EUR for this specific project and will allocate 100mln
AMD or $250,000 a year for the activities to promote Armenian wines
abroad.
Harutyunyan said that now that Armenia is reducing its wine export
to Russia, Azerbaijan has become more aggressive and is actively
promoting its wines in that country while Georgia is planning a return
to that market.
“While Georgian wines were banned, Armenia might have substantially
increased its wine export to Russia, but we have lost these five
years,” Harutyunyan said.
In an interview to ArmInfo earlier Harutyunyan said that in Jan-June
2012 Armenia produced 2.2mln l of wine – 33% less than in Jan-June
2011 but 20% more than before the crisis in 2007. 40% of the exported
wine is supplied to Russia, the rest to the EU and the US.