User:Georgian Cider/sandbox

Formed in 2018, Georgian Cider is the first Georgian community, promoting Cider, Perry and Mead Wine in Georgia.

The Main Goal of the Community is: Creating New Market Opportunity for Georgia by changing excise tax on these drinks and producing their own Cider and Mead Wines

Apples of Georgia

There are more than 100 species of apples spread in Georgia (Many of them are unique varieties, grown only in Georgia).

● Apple takes 50% of stake of produced fruits by Georgia;

● Apple is one of the 21 priority products with export potential;

● Because of Export Potential: Georgian Ministry of Agriculture is developing different programs to support Georgian farmers to produce high quality apple;

● Georgia has Unique Apple varieties all year round;

● In Different Regions of Georgia there are different varieties of wild apples;

● Apple is one of the cheapest fruit in Georgia;

Difficulties with Selling Apples

The most Apple gardens in Georgia are old (More than 40 years), and can't produce similar in size and/or colour apples, which are the requests of local supermarket chains and the Export Markets;

Opportunity

Georgia has a great opportunity for producing cider, because:

● High Quality Water (​One of the best Natural Drinking Waters on Earth​) at a low cost;

● Variety of Apple species (​About 100 varieties​) at a cheap price;

● Oldest History and Experience of wine making Georgian wine (​8,000-year-old wine jars were found in Georgia)​ ;

● Unique wine making technique in “Kvevri”;

● Labor costs are low.

Some winemakers and cider lovers are already making cider only for personal use, but aren’t making mass-product because of the high excise tax;

One of the major reasons why there are no local or imported ciders in Georgia are the high excise taxes.

For Today taxes are (Per Litre):

Grape Wine: 0.00 GEL (0.00 USD) (Free of tax from 2010)

Beer: 0.12 GEL (0.045 USD)

Other Fermented Drinks (Including Cider, Perry, Mead Wine and Others):

● Less than 5% alcohol - 0.60 GEL (0.22 USD)

● More or equal than 5% alcohol - 5.00 GEL (1.86 USD)