Will we betray Georgia?

Susan Richards

14 June 2006

Susan Richards says that the Russian ban on Georgian wine is a whisper of the tensions that could turn into a roar — a Great Game for the 21st century

The drink of choice for Russia’s thriving new middle class is Georgian wine. They love to celebrate with a buxom Kindzmarauli or a dry Saperavi. The trouble is, there is just not enough of it. The shortage has been met in the old Soviet way — by counterfeiters: up to 80 per cent of Georgian wine sold in Russia is apparently fake. This is ostensibly why Russia’s chief public health official banned imports a month ago.

The scale of the counterfeiting scams in former Soviet territory is certainly vast, as is Russia’s alcohol problem. It is a major factor in Russia’s catastrophic demographic decline. Last year more than 40,000 Russians died of alcohol poisoning alone. But the ban will not address the problem. For while Georgia has been clamping down on the fakers, Russia has not. Last year, Georgia’s Mukuzani region produced grapes enough for 1.4 million bottles a year; ten million bearing that label were on sale in Russia. Most of these were produced north of the border, concocted out of vodka or moonshine. Those are the killers.

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