Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

The Azerbaijani wine "Caspian waves" has been recognized the best at an international festival in the Japanese capital of Tokyo.

Along with the Azerbaijani wines, the festival featured wines from Georgia, Moldova and Tunisia.

Participants in the event included Japan's top government officials, public and political figures, and representatives of the diplomatic corps, mass media and wine industry.

Japanese Deputy FM Motome Takizawa, addressing the event, noted the importance of the festival in strengthening cooperation and friendship between peoples and countries.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Japan Gursel Ismayilzade, in turn, highlighted the development of wine industry in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan, once regarded as the Land of Fire, may just earn the moniker of the Land of Wine. Today, Azerbaijani wines are exported to Russia, Ukraine, Baltic States, Poland , Belarus and China.

Among the grape sorts used to produce Azerbaijani wine are Pinot Noir, Rkatsiteli, Pinot Blanc, Aligote, Matrassa, Podarok Magaracha, Pervenets Magaracha, Ranni Magaracha, Doina, Viorica, and Kishmish Moldavski.

Azerbaijan became a member of the International Organisation of Vine and Wine in June 2014. The country has focused since then on the development of vines and wineries as important contributors to the economy and agriculture.

Today, Azerbaijan produces 20 million bottles of wine per year, while the annual production capacity of the country’s wineries is 100 million bottles.

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Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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