(Rferl) - According to Georgia’s state statistics agency, the country’s wine exports jumped nearly 40 percent in value last year to more than $54 million. That’s below the figures of 2005, when Georgia exported more than $80 million worth of wine. The industry was damaged when Russia stopped imports, citing alleged sanitary violations. But Georgian Deputy Agriculture Minister Ia Janashvili told the AFP news agency that his country “has weathered the embargo and is making sound progress."