25 April 2019 - At an area of 2850 ha, 108 wineries in Montenegro produce around 17 million liters of wine annually, of which 5.7 million liters are exported. For years, wines have been one of the major agricultural products exported, whereas a share of wine in the total export of agricultural products accounts for 25.8%.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, ever since the 2007 Wine Law was adopted and trade arrangements with the EU were done, the situation has significantly improved because the Montenegrin winegrowers recognized business opportunities.
“There is an increased interest of the newly-registered wineries, i.e. in 2007, we had four wineries and now we have 108 of them. Also, the production of wine in smaller wineries has increased even though general statistics do not recognize it due to ‘Plantaže’ being the market leader,” explained Marija Krstić, the chief officer of the Department for plant production and inspection control within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Along with ‘Plantaže’ that produces over 40 kinds of wines and four types of grape brandies made of 28 wine grape varieties, small-scale wineries, such as winery ‘Kopitović’, annually produces 10,000 bottles thus creating the history of wine-making in Montenegro.
‘Plantaže’ has been holding the leading position in wine production, i.e. it produces around 22 million kilos of wine grapes and grapes for fresh production and has sales of over 16 million bottled products in more than 40 countries worldwide.
So far, wines of ‘Plantaže’ have won over 800 awards and recognition at the international level, and they are selling in all continents (except Africa). Even 60% of the annual production is exported into various countries, and we take into account the tourism season and the so-called ‘silent export’, it is estimated that foreigners consume 80% of the annual production.
Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s markets are their biggest export markets, and countries that follow are China, Kosovo, USA and Croatia.
