Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 30
By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:
The wine tasting tours should be organized for the tourists arriving in Azerbaijan, director of the Savalan winery Ajdar Shafizade said.
Shafizade made the remarks during the round table discussions entitled "Prospects for the development of the wine industry in Azerbaijan and its export potential" and organized within the first-ever Azerbaijani Grape and Wine Festival in Shamakhi district, Trend reports.
“The sales level of Azerbaijani wine is already high in many countries, but the development of the wine industry has slightly weakened recently,” he added.
"The first reason is that we do not value our wine,” Shafizade said. “I would like to give an example. After Baku, Kurdamir was the second city in the country selling the wine produced by our winery. I wondered and visited the shops in Kurdamir. And what do you think? It turns out that the Germans living in Kurdamir mainly buy our wine. How can it be? The Germans value the Azerbaijani wine but we do not value. The matter does not rest only in wine.”
“First of all, we ourselves must value all the products produced in Azerbaijan,” he said. “If we combine the Azerbaijani diaspora abroad and connect the tourism factor, the sales level of Azerbaijani wines in the world will increase. We should popularize our local wine."
First-ever Azerbaijani Grape and Wine Festival is being held in Meysari village of Azerbaijan’s Shamakhi district on August 30-31.