GEORGIA

While those of us in wine like to spend a lot of time talking about how ancient of a drink it is, most modern wine is a far cry from what those ancient drinks would’ve actually been. Today’s winemaking techniques rarely go back further than the 1800s, even within regions with histories reaching back to Roman times. The wines of Georgia on the other hand feels like a step into the past, born of processes not too different from what has been done for thousands of years. And with renewed local (and international) interest in these classic methods, Georgia is experiencing a wine renaissance at the moment, as younger generations pick up the torch and continue the work of the first, if not the longest running winemaking tradition in the world.

Located in the Caucasus Mountains at the intersection between Asia and Europe, with Russia to its north and Turkiye, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to its south, Georgia has long been a crossroads of a wide range of agricultural systems. It was at one time the European centre of domestication for multiple food crops such as wheat, legumes, and V. vinifera, the family of grapes that make up all classic European wine varieties. Grapevines are a deep cultural part of the Georgian identity, with hundreds of different varieties and vines planted on most properties, where century-old rooted plants are a regular occurrence. As noted by ethnobotanist Aurora Prehn, “the only part of the plant that is not used with any regularity is the root and vine trunk, which are burned as fuel only once the vine has died. Vines and vineyards are seen as living entities in the Georgian perspective … . Vine trimmings, a byproduct of cultivation, are dried and used for fuel, most favored for barbequing meat, or Mtsvadi (მწვადი). Further, leaves picked when green are preserved and used culinarily, commonly for the beloved tolma (ტოლმა), or grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice. In one form or another the grape harvest is preserved and nothing goes to waste. The byproducts of winemaking are used for livestock fodder or fertilizer, and the must (the seeds and skins at the bottom of wine fermentation tanks) is often distilled to make a clear spirit called chacha (ჭაჭა), sometimes consumed during the long haul of winemaking. ”*

The history of winemaking in the region goes back millenia, with the oldest evidence unearthed in a Neolithic era site in eastern Georgia. There, scientists identified and dated unglazed clay vessels used in winemaking and storage, known as qvevri or churi, via the residue of tartaric acid fragments, going back to 6000 BCE. While evidence of

older fermented beverages have been discovered elsewhere, like the residue of wild grapes, hawthorn, rice, and honey from between 7000-6800 BCE found in the Henan province in north-central China, this remains the earliest example of what we could consider as wine. And with over 500 distinct varieties of grapes, the Georgian region is considered the origin of most V. vinifera. Grapevine culture was introduced into Christianity around the 4th century CE when it arrived here, and the veneration of wine was assimilated into the precursor of Orthodox Christianity. A powerful Georgian kingdom reigned between the 10th and 13th centuries, and this was the golden age of wine in the area, as viticulture constituted a key pillar of both the agricultural and economic engines of the country. This was followed by waves of Ottoman, Iranian, and eventually Russian rule starting in 1510 and not ending until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 1980 through 1990s. 

As with much of Europe, the 19th and 20th centuries were hard for Georgia. Phylloxera and fungal diseases devastated the country by the end of the 19th century, reducing the amount of land planted under vine by half. As part of the USSR, Georgia thrived as one of the centers of winemaking, though some would argue that quality was negatively affected by the Soviet model of pushing out large quantities of affordable wine. An anti-alcohol campaign undertaken by Mikhail Gorbachev between 1985-1987 further reduced vineyard plantings, though mostly for state vineyards as Georgians refused to pull out their vines. Through secessionist movements and political turmoil in the nineties and aughts, Georgian wine slowly underwent a qualitative renaissance and has gained international recognition, even gaining UNESCO acknowledgment for its use of traditional winemaking techniques utilising qvevri. We hope you enjoy these distinctive wines as much as we have.

გაიხარე!

Justin Malesheetz, Fillmore Wine Buyer

* https://discoverandshare.org/2021/11/11/grafting-the-grape-the-rich-history-of-georgian-winemaking/