Kakheti took in 182,210 tonnes of grapes, and 99% graded medium or high

As of 6 October 2026, Kakheti had taken in 182,210 tonnes of grapes, processed at a rate of 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes a day through 22 collection sites run by the state-backed Harvest Management Company. About 13,200 growers had delivered. By variety, Saperavi accounted for 92,100 tonnes and Rkatsiteli for up to 77,400. The reporting describes it as among the largest and highest-quality harvests since independence, which is a characterisation rather than a measured ranking — but the volume and the daily throughput are figures the agency published.

The reported quality split is 99% medium or high and 1% rotten or low. Agriculture Minister Davit Songhulashvili attributed that to a new grading system that pays growers more for better grapes. Under the guaranteed purchase scheme, the price a grower receives depends on variety and sugar content. For anyone running a vineyard as part of a property holding, that is the structural change worth understanding: the payment is no longer a flat rate per tonne, so the return on a plot now depends on decisions in the vineyard rather than only on the tonnage trucked to the gate.

In September, growers in Kvareli and Gurjaani protested over prices amid concerns about oversupply, and the government's response was the guaranteed purchase scheme. The sequence matters more than the headline tonnage: a record intake and a price dispute are not contradictory, because a large crop is exactly what pushes prices down. If you are buying land in Kakheti on the strength of wine-sector growth, the figure to ask about is not the harvest total but what the scheme paid per tonne by grade this year, and whether the grower you are buying from was paid under it.

A large, high-graded crop means more wine to sell next year across the cellar doors, guesthouses and tasting rooms that make up Kakheti's visitor economy. The harvest itself is over for 2026, so an operator marketing an rtveli experience is now selling next September, not this one. The useful detail for that pitch is the grading system: a region that pays by sugar content is a region where a host can explain why one vineyard's fruit went for more than the next one's, and that is a better story than a tonnage figure.