ArmInfo. A warehouse of Armenian wines will open in Europe. Head of the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia Zaruhi Muradyan informed ArmInfo correspondent, on the sidelines of the Armenian wine tasting competition, held with the support of GIZ. "This is a pilot project on which we worked together with our wine companies," she said.
The head of the Foundation said that the warehouse will be opened in Berlin, thereby providing an opportunity to open an online sales website for Armenian wines in Europe, which will increase the availability of the latter for the European consumer. "Now, without intermediaries, without artificial pricing, the consumer can directly contact the producer and order Armenian wine from any European country," she said.
Muradyan emphasized that over the past three years, orders of small parties, which are unjustified for our winemakers from a financial point of view, have been an obstacle on the way to selling Armenian wines on European markets. Now, when the warehouse is opened, the delivery to the European market will be carried out by groupage cargo. "Thus, the consumer will be able to buy Armenian wine in the amount he needs, whether it be a box of wine, 2 boxes, etc.," she added.
Zaruhi Muradyan noted that the best Armenian wines will be presented at the warehouse, which will be chosen during the blind-tasting competition. She said that at this stage, 134 types of wines from 34 Armenian wine-making companies are presented, among which Armenian sommeliers will determine the best ones through blind tasting. <I think this is the most accurate and transparent format. And if it works effectively, we will regularly hold such events," she said.
According to the head of the Foundation, in connection with the opening of a warehouse in Europe, in the domestic market, in parallel, active work will be carried out with tourists, who will be informed about the presence of such a site in Europe.
To note, according to the RA Statistical Committee, in January-October 2020, the volume of wine produced in Armenia decreased by 17.9% per annum to 7.8 million liters, with an increase of 19% in October - to 1.2 million liters.
According to the RA Customs Service, in the first half of 2020 Armenia exported 901.9 thousand liter wines, with a decline over the year by 30.6% (against growth by 16.5% last year), with a decline in customs value by 24.7% to $ 3.2 million. Traditionally, the main export market for Armenian wine is the Russian Federation, which share accounts for 69.8% of exports, instead of 72.3% in the first half of 2019, followed by the United States with a share of 8.9% (instead of 3.4% a year earlier), Switzerland - 5.5% (instead of 4%), France - 2.9% (instead of 1.8%), Italy - 2.3% (instead of 1.5%), Argentina - 1.4% (whereas a year earlier Argentina did not figure), Belarus -1.1% (instead of 0.8% a year earlier), China - 1% (instead of 5% a year earlier), as well as Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Israel, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Canada, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Taiwan, India, Australia, United Kingdom and other countries.
