The FINANCIAL — The oldest leading wine brandy manufacturing enterprise in Georgia Sarajishvili Company is continuing the history and traditions which started more than a century ago and plans to offer new products on the local as well as export markets.
This year Sarajishvili decided to take a new direction and introduce a new line – Sarajishvili cocktails.
“This year we are trying to make our customers fall in love with wine brandy-made cocktails. Young people, their interests and needs have become a priority segment for Sarajishvili,” Ketevan Matiashvili, Marketing Manager of Sarajishvili, told The FINANCIAL.
Meanwhile, Sarajishvili XO (“extra old”) is being introduced in the new design this year, which is considered a limited edition expression made from Georgian grapes. It is a blend of 15 different eau-de-vie reserved in the estate cellars and aged for an average of between 14 and 18 years, though they claim some are as old as 30.
Strengthening its position on the export markets and entering new countries are one of the priorities of Sarajishvili for this year besides introduction of new products. This time Asia is in a main focus.
Sarajishvili recently entered Finish market. As of today Sarajishvili exports its alcoholic beverages to about 20 countries including Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belorussia, Uzbekistan, the United States, China and central European countries.
“Every market is very specific and different from the other, requiring an individual approach. Although the uniqueness of our products enables us to easily adjust to any market and meet all the standards,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sarajishvilis’ management is taking actions to retrieve its previous position on the Russian market, which weakened following Russia’s embargo on Georgian alcoholic beverages in 2006.
“Now we are seeing positive trends on the Russian market. Returning to our old position is not an easy process. It requires big effort and hard work from us as well as from our partners’ side,” Matiashvili said.
“European markets are becoming more and more interesting for us, especially since 2006 when we found that Russian market was not reliable any more. Since then we have been working on diversifying the export onto different markets,” she added.
“And we have gained success in some European markets. For example in Latvia we keep the warehouse where distribution of our production to the rest of EU countries takes place. I can also single out Poland where our sales figure is improving on the yearly basis,” Matiashvili said.
Last year Sarajishvili aimed to make the production line richer. Matiashvili said that the most distinguished project in this direction was Sarajishvili Night.
“Sarajishvili Night was specially made for New Year’s Eve. A limited edition – only 5,000 bottles of Sarajishvili Night – made a great impression among customers. This is how we shared our New Year mood among are valued customers,” Matiashvili said.
“I cannot neglect to mention Sarajishvili Extra which was introduced in late 2015. This brandy is the perfect example of how the Sarajishvili Company creates a unique synthesis of traditions and modernity. Our customers loved Sarajishvili Extra very much, the feedback has been positive,” she added.
Currently Sarajishvili is represented by three main lines: Classic line; Unique line; and Vintage line.
The Classic line includes six products: Sarajishvili 3*; Sarajishvili 5*; Sarajishvili VS; Sarajishvili VSOP; Sarajishvili XO; and, Sarajishvili Extra.
The Unique line offers Davit Sarajishvili and XX century, while the Vintage line includes its “special spirits”.
Due to the economic crisis in the countries where Sarajishvili sells its products the company could not achieve its sales plan, however it did manage to maintain its positions. Matiashvili said the situation was mostly critical in the “strategically partner countries” of Sarajishvili, which make up the largest part of Sarajishvili’s export.
“In recent years the world economic crisis worsened the solvency rate of customers. Georgia was no exception either. However, the company managed to adapt to the current situation very quickly, changed its strategy and concentrated on maintaining the existing sales rate. We overcame this challenge perfectly,” Matiashvili said.
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