Page 17 - Code de Vino, #13/19, a/w 2016

14 The Space of Taste. Top Selection of Georgian Signature Wines Code de Vino #13 Code de Vino #13 Georgian Wine Space 15

May we stay as full and intact as these wines are.
May our lives be blessed.
A prayer for successful winemaking, chanted on
the New Year's Eve and the Epiphany Day.

Georgian

Wine Space

Tatyana Kotova

Background

Georgian winemakers believe and claim that Georgia is the In the 2nd century AD, after Georgia had been liberated from the Arab
oldest viticultural region in the world. According to occupation, the intensive improvement of winemaking technologies began,
archeologists, seeds of cultivated grapes, special pruning and regional traditions of it were born. Some of those survived to this day,
knives, stone presses, crushers, wine vessels, and jewelry nearly unchanged. The biggest specialty of Georgia is the technology of
depicting vines, as well as other objects found in ancient making wine in large double-walled clay jugs known as qvevris.
graves, date back to the Eneolithic period. The radiocarbon
For Georgians, winemaking is an integral part of spiritual culture, a subject analysis of the found remains of seeds and grape wort In the early 4th century, Georgia adopted Christianity. This event prompted
of people's love and part of heritage. The Georgian wine tradition, like a grapevine pushes the beginning of the local winemaking even further the development of winemaking, as Christian rituals called for natural wine.
itself, has its roots deep in the ground, in the legendary past of the Kingdom back, to 8,000 years ago. Every discovered vessel younger Many fundamental works came out about winemaking, as well as about
the benefits of red and white wine, which were used to treat various
than that has a depiction of the vine on it.
of Colchis. Or maybe even deeper — in the Neolithic Age, when dolmens were diseases.
being erected in the Caucasus and wine was already being made. The Christian Greece, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, and even Turkey (Lake Van
era has lifted Georgian winemaking to a very special level; these days, truly divine region) tried to challenge the primacy of winemaking, but Enter a string of wars and claims on the Georgian land from neighboring
countries, but time and again would Georgia be reborn, new grape
none of these claims look as convincing as Georgia's, with
wine is made here. These words attain a special tinge and taste on the blessed grapes and images of it dating back to ancient times found varieties appearing on the vineyards and new unique wines filling
land of Georgia, among the majestic mountains, ancient architecture, divine wines, literally everywhere. The very name of the drink in different qvevris. Over the centuries, the people of Georgia were able to preserve
languages — vin, wein, wine — sounds similar to the and even develop new grape varieties — a total of over 500, from which
great cuisine, beautiful music, and, of course, special people who have preserved Georgian word ღვინო[ghvino], and even the letters of the they would produce new wines. Why are local wines so much unlike
this tradition and are willing to share it with the world. Georgian alphabet look like curly shoots of a grapevine. European ones, then?