Nation’s wine market expands
The Azerbaijani wine producer ASK Şәki Şәrab will present its new brands “Bouquet Sheki” and “Askona”, the director of the company Vidadi Hasanov told Trend on February 4.
Wines from the grape varieties collected in Azerbaijan, such as Rkatsiteli, Saperavi, Madras, Muscat, Chardonnay and Merlot, will be produced under the brands “Bouquet Sheki” and “Askona”, he said.
“These wines of very high quality are entirely Azerbaijani products and they are made according to European technologies,” Hasanov added, noting that in the upcoming days these wines will be presented in almost all major trade facilities of the country.
At the same time, the director said, the plant plans to arrange export of wines to Belgium, China and Kazakhstan.
“We sent samples of the produced wine to Belgium, China and Kazakhstan,our products were highly assessed and we plan to sign contracts with companies from these countries,” Hasanov stated.
In 2018, the plant “ASK Şәki Şәrab” received 724.9 tons of grapes and produced 500,000 liters of wine materials.
Established in 2011, “ASK Şәki Şәrab” is a subsidiary of the “Azerbaijan Industrial Corporation”.
As one the leading producers of wine in the Caspian Sea region, Azerbaijan’s contemporary winemaking ambitions developed during the 1970s by Soviet authorities who preferred to increase the wine production versus development of the grain industry.
Azerbaijan is famous for its high quality grape varieties. Five major wine-growing regions of the country are Shamakhi, Ismayilli, Gabala, Ganja, Tovuz. Local grape varieties in Azerbaijan include White Shani, Derbendi, Nail, Bayanshire, Gamashara, Ganja Pink, Bendi, Madrasa, Black Shani, Zeynabi, Misgali, Khindogni, Agdam Kechiemdzheyi, Tebrizi, and Marandi.
Currently, there are nearly 10 wineries and vineyards producing wine in the country. The largest one is Vinagro, created in 2006. It uses the Goygol Wine Plant near Ganja founded in 1860 by German immigrants. Exports to other countries are steadily growing due to good quality of Azerbaijani wine products.
In 2012, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev approved a decree "State Program for development of grape growth 2012-2020". The aim of the program is to increase the grape growth as well as develop winemaking, and rise the rate of exportation. Each year, the size of the territories for growing grape is rising. Within the state program, territory of grape gardens will be 50,000 hectares. It is expected that the grape growth will reach 500 tons until 2020.
Most of producers target Russian and European markets as well as new growing markets for Azerbaijani wine such as China.
Moreover, Azerbaijan Wine Manufacturers and Exporters Association was established to coordinate activities between producers and exporters of wine and winery products with the support of the Export and Investment Promotion Foundation of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) in 2016.
Production of wine and winemaking products in Azerbaijan exceeded 1 million decalitres in 2017, of which 375,000 decalitres were exported. Thus, wine products from the country were mainly sent to Russia (338,000 decals) and China (27,000 decals).
Azerbaijani Wine Houses are opened in foreign countries to promote national brands and exports of local products. The first wine house of Azerbaijan was opened in China this year.