OREANDA-NEWS Competition of Russian winemakers with wine made in the countries of the Customs Union from imported balka is unacceptable – it undermines efforts to develop winemaking in the country, as well as future such work, this opinion was expressed by Alexey Plotnikov, executive secretary of the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Russia (AVVR), RIA Novosti.

The Kommersant newspaper wrote in early July that the alcohol distributor, Vintrade Retail Group, had received a declaration allowing it to import products from the Minsk Grape Wine Factory (MZVV) to Russia under the names "Gruner Weltliner" and "Riesling".

However, the products of the MZVV are made from wine materials imported from countries outside the Customs Union of the EAEU member states, and Russian legislation prohibits the use of such "raw materials" for wine production, the industry pointed out.

"Forcing respectable Russian manufacturers to compete with specific products, such as bottled imported balk, is simply undermining. This undermines five years of efforts to develop domestic winemaking, all the work done and what remains to be done," Plotnikov said.

He noted that at the moment, the MZVV has already announced its intention to stop the production of wine for import to Russia, but if this does not happen, the association "will raise a question with regulatory and regulatory authorities as to how they perceive such products, how much they comply with the spirit and letter of Russian legislation."