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Opinions & Interviews

25 Sep 2014

Trotsky: Cooperation of Belarusian, Moldovan winemakers cited as effective example of import substitution

Trotsky: Cooperation of Belarusian, Moldovan winemakers cited as effective example of import substitution

CHISINAU, 25 September (BelTA) – Cooperation between Belarusian and Moldovan winemakers is a concrete example of effective import substitution, BelTA learned from Ivan Trotsky, Director General of ZAO Minsk Grape Wines Factory (Ambassador trademark), who took part in the Belarusian-Moldovan business forum in Chisinau.

According to Ivan Trotsky, partnership with the Moldovan company Vinaria din Vale was established 14 years ago and since then the sides have managed to create a working import-substitution business model. “Our Moldovan partners grow grapes and process them into high-quality wine material. In turn, we bottle the material in Minsk and sell it to end consumers,” noted Ivan Trotsky. Thus instead of buying bottled wines Belarus imports wine material, greatly reducing foreign currency expenses.

The director of the Belarusian company noted that five years ago the partners agreed to explore a new niche on the winemaking market — the production of organic wines. “It took three years to convert 160ha of vineries. Now our partners have started harvesting Moldova’s first yield of organic grapes. The grapes will be used to make wine material while we will bottle it,” said Ivan Trotsky.

Minsk Grape Wines Factory was the first company in Belarus to use the cold bottling technology which preserves all the organoleptic qualities of wines. According to Professor Nikolai Taran, Doctor of Engineering, Deputy Director of the Farming Agriculture, Vine-Growing and Food Industry Research Institute of Moldova, cold bottling uses membrane-based filtering, which allows bottling wines without heating them. The process preserves the aroma and the taste of the beverage intact for the end consumer. The scientist said that Minsk Grape Wines Factory receives wine material in modern automobile tanker trucks made of stainless steel. Wine material is then filtered and bottled to deliver wine as good as the day it was made in the country of origin.

Nikolai Taran said he believes that the organic wine that Minsk Grape Wines Factory will start bottling soon thanks to cooperation with Vinaria din Vale, has an export potential. “Nowadays such wines are highly appreciated in Europe and the USA. Consumers ready to pay 30% extra in order to get an organic product,” stressed Nikolai Taran.

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