The short answer
In Georgia, a commercial winery is regulated mainly by the National Wine Agency under the Law on Vine and Wine. A wine company must keep prescribed technological records and submit annual notifications, obtain conformity certification for covered wine sold domestically or exported, maintain compliant labels and traceability, and meet applicable tax rules. Since March 2026, the statute no longer contains the former 1,500-liter reporting exemption.[1]
Who is covered by Georgia's winery record and reporting rules?
The Law on Vine and Wine requires a wine company to record technological processes connected with the production and storage of alcoholic beverages, alcohol, grafting material, and grapevine planting material, and to submit mandatory notifications to the National Wine Agency.[1] Ministerial Order No. 2-78 provides the operational journals, acts, notification forms, and deadlines for wine companies engaged in production, storage, and sale of alcoholic beverages, spirits, and relevant vine materials.[2]
For practical purposes, a commercial winery producing or holding wine in Georgia should design its records on the assumption that Article 335 applies. A producer should not use the older 1,500-liter text in Order No. 2-78 as a current exemption without National Wine Agency confirmation because the final consolidated statute deleted the matching statutory exception in March 2026.
What registrations come before normal winery operations?
1. Register the relevant economic activity
Georgia's Food/Feed Safety Code requires business operators to register the relevant activity in the Registry of Economic Activities and says a business operator may not carry out that activity without registration. Start, termination, and changes to registered activity data are handled through the National Agency of Public Registry.[5]
2. Register the wine company with the National Wine Agency before certification
Under the certification rule, National Wine Agency registration is a prerequisite for obtaining a conformity certificate. A registered wine company receives a unique four-digit code from the Agency.[3] That code also feeds the prescribed Georgian-produced lot-number structure in the certification rule.
3. If you are establishing a commercial vineyard, obtain the required permission first
From May 1, 2026, the National Wine Agency says cultivation of a commercial or entrepreneurial vineyard requires its consent. The Agency says the permit is free and that personal-use vineyard cultivation is outside this requirement.[7]
What records must a Georgian wine company keep?
Ministerial Order No. 2-78 turns the statutory accounting duty into a concrete set of journals and acts. Wine is recorded in decaliters, recalculated at 20°C. The rule permits electronic records or company-designed formats as long as all required information is retained. It also requires the information in technological journals and acts to be supported by corresponding laboratory-journal entries and to preserve traceability.[2]
| Record | Order No. 2-78 reference | Operational trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Vineyard register | Annex 1 | Annual status as of January 1 |
| Harvest journal | Annex 2 | Harvest information |
| Grape receipt journal | Annex 3 | Grapes received during processing season |
| Wine turnover journal | Annex 4 | Wine inventory movement |
| Wine aging act | Annex 5 | Wine placed into aging |
| Wine blending/equalization act | Annex 6 | Blend or equalization operation |
| Bottling act | Annex 7 | Product bottled into consumer packaging |
| Finished-goods warehouse movement journal | Annex 8 | Packaged-product inventory movement |
| Distillation act | Annex 9 | Wine or chacha distillation, if applicable |
| Distillate aging act | Annex 10 | Wine/chacha distillate placed into aging, if applicable |
| Spirit-drink blending act | Annex 11 | Brandy or chacha vodka blending, if applicable |
| Distillate/spirit turnover and balance journal | Annex 12 | Separate movement records, if applicable |
| Processing-aid turnover journal | Annex 13 | Yeast, nutrients, enzymes, bentonite, gelatin, and other processing materials |
| Concentrated grape must turnover | Annex 14 | When concentrated must is held or moved |
Operational takeaway: Georgia's system is not just an annual form. The annual notification figures are downstream of cellar, warehouse, vineyard, and lab records that should stay synchronized throughout the year.
Georgia winery reporting deadlines: the annual notification calendar
Order No. 2-78 requires the following information to be submitted to the National Wine Agency. The deadline depends on the subject of the notification.[2]
| Due date or reference date | Notification | Form | Who needs it |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 10 | Vineyard notification | Annex 16 | Wine companies with reportable vineyard information |
| January 10 | Wine turnover and balances, status as of January 1 | Annex 18 | Wine companies holding/moving wine |
| January 10 | Wine distillate, chacha distillate, and grape-origin spirit turnover and balances, status as of January 1 | Annex 19 | If those products are handled |
| January 10 | Brandy, chacha vodka, and strong-drink turnover and balances, status as of January 1 | Annex 20 | If those products are handled |
| July 1 | Movement of grafting material and grafted seedlings | Annex 15 | If applicable |
| December 1 | Grape processing during the year's season | Annex 17 | Wine companies processing grapes |
| December 1 and following May 1 | Pressed-pomace turnover and balances | Annex 21 | If applicable; these are the reference dates added by the 2019 amendment |
The pressed-pomace clause was added by the December 16, 2019 amendment to Order No. 2-78.[2a] Its wording identifies December 1 and the following May 1 as the applicable balance reference dates. This guide does not invent a separate filing deadline where the clause does not state one.
Where do you submit these notifications?
The rule directs wine companies to submit the information to the National Wine Agency. In the official public sources reviewed for this guide, we did not verify a current public online portal URL that should be represented as the universal filing destination. Confirm the Agency's accepted submission channel before filing. The Agency publishes official contact information, including info@wine.gov.ge and hotline 1501.[9]
When does Georgian wine need a conformity certificate?
The Law on Vine and Wine makes certification mandatory for covered alcoholic beverages produced in Georgia and intended for the domestic consumer market, and for alcoholic beverages and alcohol of all categories intended for export. The export rule contains a narrow sample exception when the samples are in containers smaller than 5 liters and the total sent at one time does not exceed 100 liters.[1]
The law also makes organoleptic testing mandatory for protected-designation alcoholic beverages produced in Georgia and for all categories of wine intended for export and sale on the local consumer market, subject to the statute's stated small-cellar exception. Physical and chemical characteristics used in certification must be established by a nationally or internationally accredited testing laboratory.[1]
Certification workflow
- Register the wine company with the National Wine Agency. This is a prerequisite to certification.[3]
- Prepare the application package. Order No. 2-82 lists the certificate application (Annex 2), quantity-and-origin information (Annex 3), acquisition documents when product was obtained from another person, and a label sample/copy for alcoholic beverages or spirits. Export applications also require an invoice containing cargo weight and exact supplier, recipient, and product names in the appropriate language.[3]
- Provide the applicant sample for laboratory testing and complete organoleptic testing where the Wine Law requires it.
- Be ready for Agency verification. The certification procedure allows National Wine Agency inspection by decision. A December 2025 amendment makes confirmation of product stocks a step carried out when the Agency requests it.[4]
- Receive and control the certificate against the lot. The certification rule allows a certificate for a whole lot or part of a lot.[3]
How long is the certificate valid?
The December 25, 2025 amendment to Order No. 2-82 sets certificate validity at 18 months from issuance, describing that as the period for placing the product on the consumer market. Certified product placed on the consumer market during that period does not require repeat certification merely because the 18-month period later ends.[4]
Lot number
The certification rule requires a lot number on Georgian-produced alcoholic beverages and spirits packaged for sale. For domestically produced product, the rule prescribes an 11-character lot number preceded by L: the first four characters are the National Wine Agency's unique wine-company code, and the next seven encode bottling conditions and date.[3]
Georgia wine label requirements
Alcoholic beverages in consumer packaging and intended for marketing must be labeled. Under Article 31 of the Wine Law, the mandatory information includes the following, with extra protected-origin/category fields when applicable:[1]
- product name;
- nominal volume;
- actual alcohol content;
- the protected appellation of origin or protected geographical indication and its protected term/approved marking, when applicable;
- the relevant category name for special wine, when applicable;
- country of manufacture;
- manufacturer name and address, plus distributor name and address when different;
- lot number; and
- "contains sulfites" when sulfites exceed 10 mg/L.
Article 33 adds language and placement rules. The statutory fields it identifies must appear in Georgian, or in a foreign language together with Georgian. Product name, nominal volume, actual alcohol content, and manufacturing country must appear in one viewing area.[1]
If you use terms such as organic, bio, or ecological, Georgia's Food/Feed Safety Code separately prohibits those claims unless the product complies with the government's bioproduction procedure and that compliance is confirmed by a conformity certificate.[5]
What must be in place before wine is sold on Georgia's domestic market?
The Wine Law allows wine and wine-origin beverages onto the consumer market only in consumer packaging, subject to the separately regulated procedure for bulk/on-tap sales. A person selling bottled wine produced in Georgia must have the product's conformity certificate.[1]
That makes the core domestic-market chain straightforward: traceable production records → compliant lot and label → required testing/tasting → National Wine Agency conformity certificate → consumer-market placement.
What does a Georgian winery need to export wine?
Georgia's Wine Law permits export of wine and wine-origin beverages only in consumer packaging. Covered exports require National Wine Agency certification, and the certification application requires an export invoice with cargo weight and exact supplier, recipient, and product names. The Revenue Service issues the certificate of origin based on information supplied by the National Wine Agency under the government-prescribed process.[1][3]
For the European Union, the National Wine Agency is demonstrably still issuing VI-1 certificates: its official report for the first half of 2026 records 2,371 VI-1 certificates for EU countries and 6,261 conformity certificates.[8] Destination-country label, customs, importer, and market-access rules can add obligations beyond Georgia's export-side requirements.
Food safety, traceability, and HACCP for wineries
Wine is food for purposes of Georgia's Food/Feed Safety Code. The Code requires traceability through production, processing, and distribution. Business operators must keep information, documents, records, systems, and procedures capable of supplying traceability information to the competent authorities on request. For wine and other grape-origin alcoholic beverages, the Code expressly sends labeling back to the Law on Vine and Wine.[5]
The Code also states that food business operators must introduce food-safety procedures based on HACCP principles, while primary production is exempt. It then provides that the types of food/feed production and processing for which HACCP must be introduced are determined by government ordinance.[5] A vineyard's primary-production exemption should therefore not be assumed to exempt cellar processing. A winery should map its registered processing activity to the current HACCP ordinance and confirm applicability with the National Food Agency rather than relying on a blanket statement.
One common misconception is that every winery needs separate food-business recognition. The Code does require registration of the relevant business activity, but its mandatory recognition categories are separately listed and focus on specified activities such as production/processing of food of animal origin, certain feed, animal by-products, and designated plant-protection activities.[5] This guide therefore does not present recognition as a universal winery requirement.
VAT and excise: what a Georgian winery should verify
VAT
Georgia's Tax Code requires a taxable person to register for VAT within two business days after VAT-taxable supplies exceed GEL 100,000 during any 12 consecutive calendar months. Tax liability begins with the transaction that crosses the threshold. A producer of excisable goods has a separate VAT-registration rule that applies before supplying the excisable goods.[6]
The VAT rate is 18%, the VAT accounting period is a calendar month, and a registered VAT taxpayer files the VAT declaration and pays the tax no later than the 15th day of the following month.[6]
Wine product classification and excise
Do not treat every grape beverage as having the same excise classification. The Tax Code separately defines wine as goods under CN codes 2204 and 2205 made from grapes, above 1.2% and not above 18% alcohol, where the alcohol is entirely from fermentation and the product has no additives. The Code's positive-rate rows for "other fermented beverage" and "intermediary alcoholic beverage" expressly exclude wine, while other alcoholic categories carry stated rates.[6]
For that reason, a winery making fortified, flavored, distilled, or otherwise non-standard products should confirm the CN classification and resulting VAT/excise treatment with the Revenue Service or a Georgian tax professional. The Tax Code's monthly excise-return rules apply to persons carrying out the relevant taxable excise transactions; this guide does not label ordinary qualifying wine as a positive-rate excise product without the needed classification analysis.
Important for 2027: the National Wine Agency's coming QR certification mark uses the translated term "excise stamping" in the Wine Law. That does not make it the same thing as the Revenue Service fiscal excise-stamp regime under the Tax Code. Keep the wine-certification requirement and tax-classification requirement as separate compliance checks.
New commercial vineyards: a 2026 permit requirement
If the winery also farms grapes, one of the newest operational rules is upstream of the cellar. The National Wine Agency states that, beginning May 1, 2026, a new commercial or entrepreneurial vineyard can be cultivated only with Agency consent. The Agency describes the permit as free and excludes vineyards cultivated for personal use.[7]
The Agency's 2026 explanation says the commercial-vineyard rules cover planning, selection of varieties and rootstocks, soil preparation, planting, and other agrotechnical measures involved in establishing the vineyard. Existing cadastral data also remains an active control tool: the Agency's first-half 2026 report describes continuing processing of new-vineyard registrations, uprootings, ownership/viticulturist data, and field checks.[8]
A practical Georgia winery compliance calendar
| When | What to close or verify |
|---|---|
| Continuous | Keep Annex 1-14 source records as applicable, laboratory support, traceability, lot, cellar, bottling, and finished-goods movements current. |
| Before new commercial vineyard cultivation | Obtain National Wine Agency consent under the post-May 1, 2026 rule. |
| Before market placement/export | Complete applicable lab testing, organoleptic testing, label/lot checks, and conformity certification. |
| January 1 | Establish year-start status used by vineyard, wine, distillate, and spirit balance notifications. |
| January 10 | File applicable vineyard, wine turnover/balance, and distillate/spirit notifications. |
| 15th of each month | VAT declaration/payment for VAT-registered taxpayers; verify excise-return obligations separately by product and taxpayer status. |
| May 1 | Pressed-pomace balance reference date, if applicable under Annex 21. |
| July 1 | Grafting material/grafted seedling movement notification, if applicable. |
| December 1 | Grape-processing notification deadline and pressed-pomace reference date, as applicable. |
| Before February 1, 2027 | Operationally prepare for the new National Wine Agency QR certification-marking requirement and verify the implementing procedure once finalized/current. |
Pre-audit checklist for a Georgian winery
- Economic activity is registered and current.
- National Wine Agency wine-company registration is current before certification activity.
- Vineyard permission/cadastre status is current where applicable.
- Annex 1-14 records applicable to your operations are complete and traceable.
- Laboratory journal entries support the relevant technological records.
- January 10, July 1, and December 1 notifications are calendared by applicability.
- No small-volume reporting exemption is assumed solely from the older 1,500-liter language in Order No. 2-78.
- Domestic and export lots have the required conformity certification before market placement/export.
- Label includes the current mandatory Article 31 information and Article 33 language/placement requirements.
- Sulfite declaration is present when sulfites exceed 10 mg/L.
- Food traceability records can follow product backward to inputs and forward through distribution.
- HACCP applicability has been mapped to the winery's actual registered processing activities.
- VAT registration and monthly filing status is correct.
- Each alcoholic product's CN/excise classification has been checked rather than inferred from the word "wine."
- Export files contain certification, invoice, origin, VI-1 for EU where applicable, and destination-country documents.
- A change project is open for the February 1, 2027 National Wine Agency QR marking requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Is a winery selling 1,500 liters or less still exempt from National Wine Agency records and notifications?
Do not assume so. The final consolidated Wine Law deleted Article 335(2) on March 17, 2026. The older public text of Order No. 2-78 still displays a 1,500-liter exemption. Because the two are out of alignment, obtain current written National Wine Agency guidance before relying on the old exemption.[1][2]
When are the main winery notifications due?
The headline dates are January 10 for vineyard and wine turnover/balance notifications, December 1 for grape-processing information, and July 1 for grafting-material and grafted-seedling movement when applicable. Distillate and spirit balance notifications also use January 10 when applicable.[2]
Can a Georgian winery keep the technological records electronically?
Yes. Order No. 2-78 expressly permits electronic records and company-designed formats as long as the required information is fully captured. The underlying traceability and laboratory-support requirements still apply.[2]
Does wine sold inside Georgia need a conformity certificate?
Yes, for the categories covered by the Law on Vine and Wine. The law makes certification mandatory for covered alcoholic beverages produced in Georgia for the local consumer market. Bottled Georgian wine placed on the consumer market must have a conformity certificate.[1]
How long does the conformity certificate last?
The current certification rule, as amended on December 25, 2025, sets an 18-month validity period from issuance for placing certified product on the consumer market. Product placed on the consumer market within that period does not require repeat certification solely because the period later expires.[4]
What does an EU-bound Georgian wine shipment need?
Georgia requires export-side certification and consumer packaging, and the certification application requires the specified invoice data. The Revenue Service issues the certificate of origin based on information provided by the National Wine Agency. The National Wine Agency's first-half 2026 report confirms that it continues to issue VI-1 certificates for EU countries. The EU destination and importer may impose additional requirements.[1][8]
Does a new commercial vineyard need National Wine Agency permission?
Yes. The National Wine Agency says that from May 1, 2026, commercial or entrepreneurial vineyard cultivation requires Agency consent. The Agency says the permit is free and personal-use vineyards are excluded from this requirement.[7]
What changes on February 1, 2027?
A new National Wine Agency marking requirement takes effect for certified alcoholic beverages intended for sale. The Wine Law defines the mark as a QR code carrying beverage and certification information. Treat this as a separate workstream from Tax Code fiscal excise stamps.[1]
Does Solera file directly with Georgian authorities?
This guide makes no such claim. Solera can centralize the vineyard, cellar, lab, lot, bottling, and inventory records that feed compliance work, but the accepted government submission channel must be verified and used by the winery.
Official sources used to verify this guide
Material legal and deadline claims above were checked against primary Georgian government sources. Where an English official consolidation was available, it was used for accessibility and cross-checked against dated amendments when a 2026 change affected the conclusion.
- Law of Georgia on Vine and Wine, final consolidated version. Matsne, Legislative Herald of Georgia. Includes the March 17, 2026 deletion in Article 335 and June 9, 2026 QR-marking amendment. Official law on Matsne.
- Ministerial Order No. 2-78 of January 24, 2019, technological-process recording and notification procedure. Matsne. Provides Annex 1-20 records/notifications and deadlines; its public text still shows the legacy 1,500-liter exemption. Official order on Matsne.
- Amendment to Order No. 2-78, December 16, 2019. National Wine Agency official copy. Adds the pressed-pomace notification/balance provision and Annex 21. Official amendment PDF.
- Ministerial Order No. 2-82 of February 19, 2018, certification procedure for grape-origin alcoholic beverages and spirits. Matsne. Covers wine-company registration, four-digit code, certification steps, application documents, lot number, sampling, testing, and certificate issuance. Official certification rule on Matsne.
- Ministerial Order No. 2-788 of December 25, 2025. Matsne. Updates certification stock-confirmation steps and sets the certificate's 18-month market-placement validity period. Official 2025 amendment on Matsne.
- Food/Feed Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection Code of Georgia, final consolidated version. Matsne. Articles 13, 17, 171, and 18 cover business-activity registration, traceability, HACCP framework, and labeling relationship to the Wine Law. Official code on Matsne.
- Tax Code of Georgia, final consolidated version. Matsne. Articles 165-168 cover VAT registration, rate, period, and filing; Article 1881 defines alcoholic beverage categories and rates. Official Tax Code on Matsne.
- National Wine Agency, April 29, 2026: commercial vineyard permission. Confirms the May 1, 2026 effective date, commercial scope, personal-use exception, and free permit. Official National Wine Agency notice.
- National Wine Agency, Report for the First Six Months of 2026. Confirms current certification operations, including VI-1 issuance for EU exports, conformity certificates, tasting activity, and active vineyard-cadastre work. Official 2026 report PDF.
- National Wine Agency contact page. Current Agency address, email, and hotline. Official contact page.