Speaking with government officials at a televised outdoor meeting in a vineyard in eastern Georgian region of Kakheti, President Saakashvili said that grape and wine was “a matter of identity” for Georgia, which was more than just agriculture. “[Grape] harvest is not an usual event,” he told Agriculture Minister Bakur Kvezereli, Governor of Kakheti region, Giorgi Gviniashvili, and other officials. “It’s very important fundamental political issue.” “Grape and wine – it’s a matter of our identity, a genuine passport of culture, that’s our pride; that’s on which our identity, existence stands,” Saakashvili said.