March 20, 2008

ACDI/VOCA Helps Georgian Wineries Sell to Whole Foods

With help from ACDI/VOCA, two Georgian wineries—Vinoterra and Tsinandali Old Cellar—have signed contracts to export wine for sale in the United States at Whole Foods Market, the world’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods. ACDI/VOCA’s $23 million USAID-funded AgVANTAGE project recently organized a tour of the two wineries in the Kakehti region for top U.S. and Georgian officials and supported the wineries in securing the contracts with Whole Foods distributors.

Applauding the achievement, U.S Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft said, “I am happy that U.S. citizens will also have the chance to taste high-quality Georgian wines.”

First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Vakhtang Lezhava said, “I think that these wineries are little models showing what Georgian wine production should look like in two to three years. This should be a world-oriented export that helps to create new jobs in the country.”

When Russia imposed an embargo on imports of Georgian wines in March 2006, the country lost its most important export market, which constituted about 89 percent of Georgian wine sales. In order to support Georgian wineries’ efforts to expand to new markets, ACDI/VOCA’s AgVANTAGE program assists them in gaining exposure at key international marketing venues. In July 2007, ACDI/VOCA, with co-financing from the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture, helped six of Georgia’s leading wineries to participate at the internationally renowned Fancy Food Show in New York City. The exhibition provided a unique opportunity for the companies to gain U.S exposure and was the biggest display to date of Georgia's agricultural products in the United States.

In response, U.S. wine buyers came to Kakheti, Georgia’s premier wine-growing region, to discuss business opportunities. The fruit of these efforts is this current partnership between distributors for Whole Foods and the Vinoterra and Tsinandali Old Cellar wineries. The first order of 10,500 bottles, worth $48,000, will be shipped to Seattle, Wash., and is expected to more than double in volume within the first year.

“This will be a great relief because we used to be focused on the Russian market and found ourselves in a very difficult situation after the economic embargo,” Eldar Mildiani, a co-owner of Tsinandali Old Cellar, said. “We have started to export to Poland, Israel, Canada and some other European countries but the US market will be very significant for us.”

ACDI/VOCA will continue to assist Georgian wineries with their participation at the International Wine, Spirits and Beer Event held by the National Restaurant Association Show held in Chicago in May 2008. Events like these are an integral part of ACDI/VOCA’s strategy to stimulate Georgia’s economy through increased export promotion.