Georgia exported a record amount of 86.2 million bottles of wine to 53 countries in 2018, with Russia, Ukraine and China ranking as the top three destinations, the Georgian National Wine Agency said on Friday.

Georgia generated about 203 million U.S. dollars from the sale of wine abroad in 2018, the agency said in a statement, stressing that the volume of exports increased by 13 percent while the revenue increased by 20 percent from 2017.

The three top wine importers Russia, Ukraine and China purchased 53.6 million bottles, 10.6 million bottles and 6.95 million bottles respectively from Georgia in 2018, according to the agency.

Local wine makers said they especially have high expectation on the growing wine imports of China, which is a notable impetus for the rapid increase of Georgian wine exports in the future.

With border opening-up to the world and continuing growing of China's economy, China will even become Georgia's largest wine export destination in the near future, said Georgian analysts.