Russia starts checking on Georgian Wines(BSR RUSSIA; 26 FEB 2013)

Russian specialists arrived in Georgia on Monday evening, Georgian National Wine Agency head Levan Davitashvili told RIA Novosti. “From Tuesday the experts will start their work,” he said.

Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko has previously said three groups of specialists had gone to Georgia to inspect 40 wine-making and four mineral water producing enterprises in Georgia.

Russia banned imports of Georgian wines and two popular brands of mineral water in 2006, citing the poor quality of the products, in a move widely condemned in Georgia as politically motivated. Onishchenko then branded Georgian and Moldovan wines as "poison."

Georgian wines and mineral waters were very popular in the Soviet Union and retained much of that appeal after the Soviet Union broke up. Before the ban, Russia was the largest market for Georgian wines.

Georgia is ready to supply 10 million bottles of wine to Russia annually, Davitashvili previously said.

Onishchenko earlier said Georgian wines could return to the Russian market as soon as this spring.

The already prickly relationship between Georgia and Russia worsened considerably after the ascent to power of the pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in 2004. The two countries briefly went to war in a five-day conflict in 2008 over thebreakaway republic of South Ossetia, which Russia later recognized as independent, while Tbilisi insists the territory is part of Georgia.

Georgian billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, the leader of the Georgian Dream coalition which won the country’s parliamentary elections late last year, said he wanted to improve relations with Russia and would welcome Russian investors in the country.

http://www.bsr-russia.com/en/retail-fmcg/item/3226-russia-starts-checking-on-georgian-wines.html