Georgia’s wine exports fell by 12% in the first nine months of 2025, totaling around USD 190 million, a decline that analysts say reflects bigger structural issues rather than short-term market fluctuations.
The former National Wine Agency head Levan Samanishvili stated that the decrease was anticipated after Georgian exporters rushed to ship large volumes to Russia at the end of 2023, ahead of an excise tax increase. But beyond that one-off factor, he warned that the latest figures expose deeper weaknesses within the industry.
“A 12% drop may not look dramatic statistically, but it shows the system is fundamentally broken,” Samanishvili said. “The quality of wine has fallen, and this year’s harvest confirmed how disorganized the process has become.”
He explained that many wineries struggled to source quality grapes while in some regions only the state purchased harvests. The imbalance, he said, has pushed small and medium producers, the segment most committed to quality, to the margins, while mass production continues to dominate.
