Wine as A Competitive Agricultural and Agritourism Product (Example of Georgia)

Wine is a natural agricultural product, which gives various opportunities to the regions and developing countries, but it is not easy to be competitive at national, European and global levels, especially nowadays when developed countries appear to be the main players in the global agricultural market. Georgia is famous for its ancient wine culture and wine appears to be the main source of income for several Georgian regions. Wine making methods, especially the “Qvevri” method, which has joined the UNESCO heritage list and is a part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Each wine, even from the same producer and from the same terroir, is unique. Soil, weather, geology, varietals and wine-making techniques are all decisive yet variable factors that give each wine a unique character and personality, all these features, together with rare varieties of grapes give opportunities to Georgia to make the wine as a main agricultural and agritourism product, but to be next to the successful countries, it is necessary to share their experience, become competitive and gain tourists’ interest. Georgia as a developing country has to overcome the challenges (e.g. new technologies, bio wines), which are very important and will be discussed in the article. The main idea of the article is to study the global agricultural market, in the context of wine, also highlight the problems, which Georgia is facing on its way while developing viticulture. The article according to the qualitative research method analyses one of the most important agricultural products – wine, discuss wine export statistics, and identifies the main factors and circumstances for making Kakheti as a wine and agritourism destination.