Technical mission Uzbekistan: 02 – 07 March 2023

From March 02 to 07, Christine PECASTAINGTS (Director of Interco Nouvelle-Aquitaine) and Guilherme MARTINS (Oenologist and Researcher at Bordeaux Science Agro & Science’s Institut de la Vigne et du Vin (ISVV)) made a number of technical visits to understand the Uzbek wine sector. They met with various key players in the sector.

Here’s a summary of their stay:

Thursday, March 02: Visit to Tashkent Davlat Agrar University to learn about the various departments (Grape, Vine Cultivation and Grape Processing). They also visited the International Agricultural University, sponsored by the Royal Agricultural University of England, with several bachelor’s and master’s degrees. They met the Director of the National Center for Innovation in Agriculture, Mr. Alisher Touraev.

Friday March 03: The day kicked off with a visit to the Akis Center for Agricultural Services, to understand its role in ensuring the integration of education, science and industry in agriculture. They also visited the Uzumfermer winery, under the management of Mr. Mirakhmedov Sanjar, which Interco hosted in December at the Vinitech-Sifel 2022 trade show. They have developed wine tourism with a hotel and restaurant available for visitors. Finally, a visit to the Institut de Recherche en Horticulture, Viticulture et Vinification. The Institute is part of a network of 15 experimental stations in viticulture and horticulture. The Institute wishes to develop a wine tourism project to enhance the value of its site and sell the farm’s products.

Saturday March 04: Visit to JSC O’zbekiston Shampani, a company founded in 1942, dedicated to the production of brandy and vodka. Over the next few years, they intend to develop:

-the production of competitive and popular sparkling wines, as well as other beverages.

-obtaining funding for the introduction of advanced technologies and production lines

-technical modernization and automation of the entire finished product production cycle.

They visited Château Hamkor, a leading wine producer and exporter. The Château has its own vineyards in the village of Namdanak, in the Parkent district of the Tashkent region.

Sunday 05 March: free day

Monday March 06: Visit to the “Samarkand branch tashkent state” Agricultural University, which offers a Master’s degree in agronomy and gives some courses in viti-oeno. They then visited Bagizagan Farming, a 700-hectare private enterprise that has been in existence for 5 generations. Some oenological products are purchased in France. Barrels are bought from Hungary and Ukraine, and stainless steel tanks from Italy and Moldavia.

General comments on the Uzbek wine sector:

In order to gain visibility and market share in the global wine sector, the Uzbek wine industry needs to restructure its vineyards.

Although wine producers are familiar with the winemaking process and therefore produce wine to international standards, they are limited by the quality of the harvest, which still needs to be improved.

The future Uzbek wine sector should also work on authenticity, which could set it apart from other wine regions in the world.