Twelve million euros through the Development Bank of Macedonia, earmarked for the liquidity of wineries and collection points, on favourable terms. The aim is to have money available to pay growers on time and to take in the entire harvest.

Kavadarci mayor Mitko Janchev and agriculture minister Borche Serafimovski toured the collection points and wineries where Vranec and Smederevka are being bought up intensively - the Tikvesh, Movino and Bruno wineries, as well as the Jugokomerc collection point.

The promise

"All Vranec that is healthy and in good condition will be purchased. Likewise Smederevka, which accounts for an even larger share, will start being purchased in the period ahead", Janchev said.

There are two conditions in that sentence. Healthy. In good condition. Who establishes them and by what criteria is not stated - and that is precisely the difference between a guarantee and an announcement for every grower waiting at the collection point.

The hail damage, and what comes after 25 September

About ten days ago a hailstorm hit the vineyards of the Tikvesh region. The municipality of Kavadarci and other municipalities in the region set up commissions to assess the damage.

Once the harvest is over, after 25 September, additional commissions will be formed. Their task is different and harder: to establish whether there is damage to the perennial plantings that was not caused by a natural disaster.

That is a formulation worth reading twice. Damage to permanent plantings that is not from the storm means damage from something else - and the answer to that "something else" will matter to every grower seeking compensation.

The year is not a good one, and that is admitted

Janchev did not try to present the season as a success. He said this year's situation cannot be rated as excellent, particularly because of the quality of the grapes and the high temperatures.

At the same time he rejected what he called the untruths and political propaganda spreading on social media, judging that they create panic and insecurity. "I am in my ninth year as mayor and I know exactly how things go during the buying days", he said.

The long-term part

On the instruction of prime minister Hristijan Mickoski, preparations for the 2027 harvest begin in November, focused on reducing wine stocks, supporting exports and opening new markets.

The key project is a distillery - processing surplus wine into distillate, which would free up the wineries' tanks before each new harvest.

That is the heart of it. The Tikvesh region lives the same cycle every year: full tanks, weak exports, pressure on the purchase price, a grower waiting. Twelve million euros of liquidity solve the question of this autumn. The distillery, if it is built, solves the thing that keeps repeating.

Which is why it is worth remembering that no deadline for it has been announced.