Page 11 - Code de Vino, #13/19, a/w 2016

8 Wine Club Code de Vino #13 Code de Vino #13 Bidzina Ivanishvili: Living by Law of Grapevine 9
— I'd like to ask you a question that has just occurred to me.
I've interviewed many people from the world of wine: in France,
Australia, Italy, Argentina. Only when I come to Georgia, I get
the impression that wine culture is perceived in a similar way
everywhere, and the wines of the world are also more or less
similar, following a kind of a pattern, while in Georgia, the wine
is really special and surprisingly diverse. Would it be safe
to assume there is wine and there is Georgian wine?

— Here's the way I look at: there are people who drink wine and there
are Georgians who drink wine. Now, the attitude to wine... This is
where there is a clear difference: how Georgians treat wine and how
everyone else treats it around the world. Georgia is currently in the
process of restoring and developing our traditional technologies.
Only time will tell if it was for the better. But the fact that it is important
for our culture and identity couldn't be disputed.
It's a historically proven fact that wine itself was invented in our
country. We invented wine, but other countries have developed
this process further. We stayed where we were. As a person who
understands wine, you surely realize that there are subtleties in the
cultivation of Georgian wines, just as well as others. You can plant
the same Saperavi vine three hundred feet away from an existing
vineyard, and it will yield a completely different wine! So much The traditional Georgian winemaking method involves not only aging wine in qvevris but
depends on the way the sun looks over the vines, the way the wind
— Mr Ivanishvili, the wine history and wine culture of your blows through the area, the soil quality. It all can and will change also a number of old techniques, such as pressing the wine with bare feet in a special-
country, something that cannot be measured in kilometers, the flavor of your wine. purpose device called a satsnakheli, a long container resembling a boat or a bathtub.
but rather should be studied by the millimeter, lead to the
realization that Georgia could well be the largest country Accordingly, all wines are different, so I would refrain from claiming Satsnakhelis are made of solid logs or limestone blocks. The squeezed juice then flows
in the world, as a mere millimeter of Georgian space that today's Georgian wine is special. Our history, though — yes, into a qvevri through a specially designed opening in the satsnakheli.
is rife with such power that Georgia could be compared that's what is special! Our attitude to wine, to the way of drinking it —
to a crystal. yes, it is indeed special! The way Georgians view all things wine is
very interesting. And that's what I care about the most. Come to think
— Yes, our country is a special place, and very dear to me. of it: people once invented boats.
To be a citizen of Georgia means to be immersed in a centuries-
old wealth of history, a culture where wine is a consolidating factor. Georgia is a small place where different religions are By the way, a Georgian feast is nothing if not a contribution to self-
Understanding and knowing Georgia is as easy as it is difficult. — Boats? represented, with as many as four denominations coexisting understanding and self-identifying. Even the most frustrated man,
side by side. As early as in the 10th century, our king would someone who can be called a loser, experiences true celebratory
— Yes, wooden boats! At all times and in all places, people would often go to a mosque and pray. The concept of tolerance — feelings when he gets to partake in a Georgian feast. He gets to feel
— Alaverdi Monastery taught me a lesson in this regard. make boats, hop inside, and sail somewhere. To reach other lands, something that Europe and America have only just arrived like a decent, worthy person. And the tamada, while preserving his
Specifically, it taught me that guests are surely welcome, or just to run some errands. Georgians also made such boats, called at and begun teaching in schools — runs in our blood and own dignity and abstaining from straightforward adulation, finds just
but rules still come first. satsnakheli in Georgian. Those are wooden troughs used to press genes. The location of Georgia — between Asia and Europe — the right words to uncover the wonderful qualities hidden inside this
grapes and squeeze the juice. has played a role here, and one can come across an man. He lifts the man's spirits and elevates him. For Georgians,
— His Grace, Metropolitan David definitely knows how extraordinary motley of cultures and religions in our country. guests and feasts are everything, the only conceivable way of living!
to uphold the law of space! And even though Georgia is a coastal country, Georgians would
never use them to leave! We used satsnakheli to make wine. I honestly believe that the biggest invention of modern
Looks a lot like a boat, doesn't it? Naturally, it is but a legend, civilization is the Georgian feast. The most perfect one, even! — I hear feasts also used to be a place of marriage except
— I personally think that both the strength and the future but it accurately reflects our people's attitude to their homeland. If we talk about the path of a man, not after his life or into the if there was a church nearby.
of Georgia lie in monastic wines and micro wineries. eternity, a thing which everybody treats differently, but in a more
materialistic sense, as something we are all born into and walk — Correct! It's all connected, all parts of one culture. I'd like to tell
— But of course! Those are our traditional wines, the flavor — So a boat is a vessel for traveling inside yourself for you? on... Then the very idea of perfection, of what people live for, you another story: in Georgian hospitals, five years ago they started
and power of our land. The very fact that you advertise all this is brought about in a Georgian feast with a skilled performing successful coronary bypass surgeries. 15–20 years ago
Georgian wines — for that, Georgia is grateful to you! — Yes. Georgians never went anywhere. They preferred to stay and tamada, with wonderful singing. And it is crucial that not two I helped to send many fellow Georgians to Austria and Germany for
wait for guests to come. They pressed wine and waited for guests. or three people gather but fifteen or twenty, and that they sing such procedures. Then I asked Austrians to come to Georgia. In the
By the way, there's something I am also exemplary of: Georgians take Georgian polyphonic folk songs. village where I was born, I set up a very good hospital. There was
— Actually, I myself owe it to Georgia for giving me living away from their homeland very hard. I myself tried living in the a need to tune up sophisticated equipment and adjust everything,
the opportunity to touch upon the deepest-rooted values US and in Russia, even stayed in France for six years. so I invited four Austrian doctors to help us out for two weeks.
of Georgian culture and its people, the place where — So you're trying to say this is a kind of law that forms
the smallest winery and a huge company like Badagoni, I know many Georgian expats who miss their country dearly. the Georgian space? When at my house, they all would tell me as one how they'd operated
are similar in the way they work, their naturalness and I personally dreamt about Georgia all the time. My land kept calling me on people and how after the fifth Georgian they'd worked on they
honesty. Georgia is a space of flavor, and there is nothing back. I never took root anywhere else. And there are a lot of migrants — Exactly. A feast creates a special atmosphere. Dancing! would expect only one question. Once the anesthesia wore off, all
more important than flavor where the inner nature of man out there, feeling the same way. Their biggest desire is to find a way And talking! A good tamada must be able to speak the patients wanted to know the same thing. They wouldn't ask if they
is concerned. to support themselves and their family back in Georgia and return! in captivating verse. I believe that the tamada as a concept would live, or how many years or how they would live. All they wanted
is a celebration of a human being itself. The very essence to know was when they could start drinking wine. The first question
— Every citizen should take care of the Georgian space as well. I can expand on the attitude of Georgians towards wine forever. of humans and the essence of life. The biggest festivities was identical for everyone. That is not to say Georgians should be
That alone makes them a special person, and we aren't talking The very Georgian character was formed under the influence of wine, can be seen at your regular Georgian feast. I tried to keep my called drunkards. A lot of jokes exist about peoples who tend to drink
about any special kind of deference. A special attitude to wine thanks to the attitude to this drink. Wine unites us. It brings together description of a Georgian feast short and simple. but it's really a lot. But you'd be hard-pressed to find any stories about Georgians
also plays a part. I mean, every Georgian has an attitude the feasting table. Georgian feast is a very interesting phenomenon. the embodiment of perfection, the very essence of life for that would make you feel that they are heavy drinkers! In the bad
to wine. In fact, Georgia is akin to classical dramaturgy. Georgian feast is the utmost manifestation of acceptance. my compatriot. sense of the word, that is.