Spotlight: Wine & Spirits

Georgian Wines Make Gains With Unique Packaging Based on Ornate Local Traditions

By Greg Grishchenko

The Republic of Georgia is located between the Caspian and Black Seas in the Caucasus Mountains. Many consider Georgia to be the birthplace of winemaking, with a history going back to 300 BC. This small country is blessed with the perfect balance of sun, soil, and a unique climate that gave rise to a substantial wine industry at the end of the 17th century.

At the time of the Soviet collapse, Georgia sold 70% of its wine output in the USSR. The remainder was exported to 28 nations including the U.K., France, Japan, and Spain, where it won Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards in worldwide wine contests. The economic reforms that began after gaining independence from Russia in 1992 were inadequate to ensure a commitment to a Western-style business model, and Georgia's wine business did not attract considerable foreign investments for much of the 1990s.

In present day Georgia, where capitalism is taking root, there are over 100 wine producers struggling to supply a growing Russian market with familiar brands. However, only a few of them stand out with quality wine brands that are gaining recognition in the mature markets of Western Europe, the U.S., and Canada.

Dozortsev & Sons, a wine importer from Brooklyn, NY, was confident about a costly packaging approach to promote the sales of vintage Georgian wines in the U.S. While the majority of wines are sold in conventional glass bottles using gravure printed paper labels in four to six colors, a substantial segment of Dozortsev's wines is packaged in ceramic bottles of various designs. Unique bottle shapes are dedicated to specific wine brands. This strategy helped to gain seven medals in wine contests in Toronto and Indianapolis.

According to the Russian business magazine Profile, Dozortsev's packaging concept — ceramic bottles with a wax seal over the cork — guarantees quality content due to the fact that counterfeiters cannot afford such a distinctive package. In Western markets, this artistic design does well in attracting the shopper's eye, and increases the sales of similar wines and liquors packaged in regular glass bottles.

"Essentially, the entire branding and launch of the Dozortsev line, including the logo with the distinguished 'D' between a pair of lions, was done in-house," says Eugene Dozortsev, president of Dozortsev & Sons. "We were involved in the package design from concept to finished product."

Mr. Dozortsev says the design was inspired by the ancient tradition in Georgia's Kakhetian wine region of seasoning wines in large ceramic crocks called "kvevri." Dozortsev & Sons procured a local ceramics manufacturer that combines tradition and modern technology to produce distinguished designs for clay bottles. This proprietary process allows the fabrication of ceramic bottles impenetrable to liquid, using natural domestic red clay without the application of any glazing materials. Special mills are used to prepare a liquid ceramic mass that gets extruded into gypsum molds. After a long drying and firing process, the bottles are ready for hand priming and painting.

Greg Grishchenko is an engineer and freelance packaging consultant in New Jersey, specializing in technical and business topics in the emerging markets of the Eastern Europe. He can be reached at gregrishchenko@aol.com.