“Georgian wine is primitive.”
The comment emerges from the bearded mouth of a winemaker in New Zealand while visiting one of the many great vineyards on the South Island. We hear it while sipping tiny pours of clear, clarified white wine full of sulfite preservatives from fancy stemmed glasses in a dark cellar. A few people around us are still swirling the wine around and smelling it, commenting on the “legs” on the sides of the glass…
…Meanwhile, in eastern Georgia, somewhere in Kakheti, a three generation family is likely gathering around a wooden table in their courtyard, shaded by the long afternoon shadows of a kiwi tree, pouring homemade amber wine into glass cups while passing around platters of skewered pork, homemade cheese bread, stuffed eggplant, and tomato/cucumber salad from the garden. Streaks of sunlight dance over the white tablecloth while a light breeze blows through the leaves above.
Between pours, a middle-aged male, the tamada, or toastmaster, delivers eloquent tributes to family, friends, country, and loved ones lost, among other meaningful toasts. A dark ram’s horn with faded copper trim makes its way around the table as an alternate drinking vessel.
The wine – though “primitive” by modern standards – is made by the grandfather using grapes he and the family tend just a stone’s throw away, with the same techniques that his grandfather and his grandfather’s grandfather have used for hundreds of years.
No swirling, sipping, or smirking at streaks – just family, friends, and homemade wine the way it always has been made.
When you get as good at something as Georgians are at making wine, you can simplify and refine the process with equal, if not better results. And this simplicity probably terrifies those who are fully invested in the intricate, complicated, and expensive version of modern European-style winemaking.
Georgian wine, and the traditional Georgian winemaking process, is as incredible as it is simple. I hope you get a chance to taste it.
Background
As the birthplace of wine, Georgia has a distinct reputation in the winemaking community. Known for earthy, tannin-filled flavors, a wide selection of local varietals, the beer-ish looking amber wine (white wine with long skin contact, turning the finished product brownish in color), and hangover-free homemade wines (sulfites are not popular in the home-wine community in Georgia), Georgians are perhaps most famous for their fermentation process.
Aside from making organic wine before the term “organic” was even a thing, their self-described winemaking process involves fermenting the grapes and juice from the “womb of the earth”. Massive, six-ton clay containers known as qvevri are buried in the ground, their insides lined with beeswax, then filled to the neck with the crushed grapes and sealed for several months.
The juice that emerges is ladled into a separate qvevri and allowed to settle and age, while the must that sinks to the bottom (leftover skins, stems, and the like) is distilled into chacha, the local, painful, fire-breathing version of grappa (which is also used to start fires when camping with Georgians, in case you were wondering).
The result of this process is stunning, producing unique flavors unlike anywhere else in the world.
When traveling the countryside, you will rarely ever come across a family that doesn’t make their own wine in some form or another. And whereas Americans sometimes pride themselves on growing simple herbs with every spare plot of soil in towns/cities, Georgians will do the same with the most wild varieties of grape – grape vines climb gutters, cover entire driveways, and engulf entire facades of homes in many regions.
Georgians have been making wine for over 8,000 years. Describing their process as “primitive” is like labeling traditional German beer-making techniques as obsolete. It would be a better idea to give respect where respect is due and get on board with the Georgian wine-making comeback and revolution.
Learn to speak Georgian…wine
Below are some more notable wines to get you started – see this great piece for additional information.
Kisi – this is how your author introduced his family to Georgian amber wine. You may want to serve it chilled, as the smoky, earthy flavor can throw novices off after their first sip.
Mtsvane, meaning “young and green” in the Georgian language, this is a light and fruity variety that is better for introductions to Georgian wine.
Rkatsiteli – a fantastic, wild grape and vine that can grow just about anywhere. Lots of American vineyards have already picked up on this variety. It tastes great too.
Saperavi – probably the most famous red wine from Georgia, and rightly so. It is savory, sometimes can be dry, and always delicious. Also grown in America – the Finger Lakes definitely have a few vineyards with this type of grape.
Tsinandali – as crisp as the pronunciation implies, this is a clean white wine with what “wine-Os” might describe as a “flowery aroma”. Georgians will just tell you it tastes good!