Wine consumption study: promoting Armenian wines on the domestic and foreign markets

Armenia ranks lower in the list of wine consuming countries, while consistently having high indicators among the countries consuming alcohol. However, over the recent years, there have been changes in the general structure of alcohol consumption in Armenia – the share of wine is increasing. Wine consumption per capita has increased significantly over 2018-2019. Thanks to high quality wine producers, festivals, tastings, specialised shops, restaurants and bars, the culture of drinking wine is becoming popular in the country.

However, the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic slowed down the growth of the wine market, and Armenia was no exception. This also resulted in an abrupt decline in the tourist flow, who as it turned out were the main consumers of Armenian wines. In Armenia, according to preliminary estimates, wine is more of a social drink than a part of everyday food consumption

Thus, it was imperative to study the wine consumption culture and habits in Armenia to identify the motives for wine drinking in the Armenian market to further develop a marketing strategy and action plan for more effective internal promotion of wine consumption culture.

The quantitative research was conducted by Breavis (commissioned by GIZ) among 1638 people throughout Armenia through phone interviews, and the qualitative component included 6 focus-group discussions.

As a result, a marketing strategy and action plan based on the study of the quantitative and qualitative peculiarities of wine consumption in Armenia has been developed and handed over to the Vine and Wine Foundation of Armenia (VWFA). 

The VWFA is currently implementing the strategy and action plan to promote the consumption of Armenian wines in the post-epidemic reality in a structured and coordinated manner.