Georgian wine drinkers are used to headaches, but now grape growers have them too.

This autumn"s bountiful grape crop is bad news for many winegrowers in eastern Georgia, where people are finding it harder and harder to sell their produce.

Gariba Zaalishvil, 40, has not harvested half of his crop of red Saperavi grapes because he couldn"t find a decent buyer.

Now, he is helping his 81-year-old neighbour Rusiko gather her grapes, looking bitterly from time to time at his own vineyard in the village of Zegaany, 90 km (56 miles) from Georgia"s capital Tbilisi.

"I"ll wait for another year or two and if the situation doesn"t improve, I"ll cut down my vineyard and sow wheat. At least then I'll have bread," Zaalishvil said.

Georgia's Agriculture Ministry forecasts the 2005 grape harvest at 250,000 tonnes, a huge increase from last year's 150,000 tonnes. ADVERTISEMENT

Rusiko, who declined to give her last name, managed to sell one tonne of Saperavi to a winery but she doesn't know what to do with the other two tonnes her grandsons, visiting from the capital, and Zaalishvil are helping her harvest.

"In the past Rtveli (the grape harvest) was a celebration for us. Now Rtveli (means) anxiety and a lot of problems," Rusiko said.

Fertilisers, chemicals and fuel have become more expensive -- while grape prices are falling.

"This autumn, wineries are buying red Saperavi for one lari ($0.55) a kilogram, when they gave us 1.8 lari the year before last and 1.5 lari last year," Rusiko said.

Prices for white grapes vary between $0.11 and $0.22 a kilogram, according to the State Institute of Winemaking, Viticulture and Horticulture of Georgia (IWVH). This is too low for winegrowers to cover their production costs.

Infuriated growers refused to work in the vineyards of Georgia's largest winery, Georgian Wines & Spirits (GWS), and went on strike demanding the firm buy their own grapes.

"We only can take 4,000 tonnes of grapes from Eastern Georgia and 1,000 tonnes from Western Georgia this year," said Lado Uzunashvili, the head of GWS, which is controlled by France's Pernod Ricard .

BRING A BOTTLE

Georgia, a prosperous tourist destination and wine producer under Soviet rule, has never fully recovered from the economic collapse that followed independence in 1991.

Endemic corruption and cronyism under veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze, ousted in 2003 by a wave of popular protests, scared off investors and sapped confidence. Shevardnadze's departure boosted hopes of economic development.

The wine industry has itself been infected by corruption.

Uzunashvili believes the sector's growth has been hindered by the amount of wine that is faked both at home and abroad.

According to GWS, Georgia can produce a maximum 900,000 bottles of its famous red wine "Khvanchkara" a year, but somehow 15 million bottles are sold in Russia.

All counterfeiters need is raw alcohol, special dyes and chemical additives, and it is almost impossible to distinguish genuine wine from fake, Nodar Chkhartishvili, the director of IWVH, told Reuters.

Professional tasters can tell the difference but their evidence does not stand up in court.

"Unfortunately in recent years the term 'wine without grapes' has taken root here. Many winemakers ... don't see the need to buy grapes to produce wine," Chkhartishvili said.

The problem got so bad that Agriculture Minister Mikhail Svimonishvili organised a demonstration where sham wine was poured down a sewer.

George Kheviashvili, head of the parliamentary agriculture committee, reckons more than 50 percent of wines produced in Georgia are falsified.

"Many wineries don't buy grapes. If you don't buy grapes, then the question comes to mind: what are you making wine from?"

Analysts say only 15 to 20 percent of the grapes harvested this year will be processed in wineries because many winegrowers are holding onto their grapes. They forecast Georgia will export more than 26 million bottles of wine this year.

Kheviashvili is also worried that Georgians have fallen out of the habit of drinking wine and can no longer spot fakes.

"I always carry five bottles of wine in the trunk of my car, and when I go somewhere, like to birthday party in a restaurant, I always take my own to show people the sort of wine they should really drink."