WHY ARE ARMENIAN WINES NOT COMPETITIVE IN THE GLOBAL MARKET?

Tert.am
18:47 ~U 17.03.10

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.