Shed light on Albanian Vineyards and Wine sector: a qualitative approach

In the last decades, the global wine market has been undergoing significant changes with new actors playing a leading role in wine production, consumption and trade (Anderson et al., 2001). New countries are entering the market with interesting and different wines that contribute to satisfying the growing demand for new products. In particular, Eastern European and Mediterranean countries are making inroad (OIV, 2018). Despite the ancient tradition in the cultivation of grapes and production of wine, the Albanian vineyards and wine value chain are quite young. After the launch of the economic transition in 1992, the wine sector has expanded and the state-run farms and cooperatives created by the communist regime joined the enterprises along the chain, with positive effects on the production in term of quantity of both vineyards and wineries (Chan-Halbrendt C., 2013). The Albanian wine market reached its highest level in the last years, both in terms of production and export. This study aims to shed light on Albanian Vineyards and Wine sector by a qualitative description addressing both production and processing level.