The new year for the SVC Winery Project group began with an interesting trip to Georgia, a country with a millennia-old winemaking tradition. We landed in the capital, where, as a testament to the deep connection with wine, a statue of Kartlis Deda stands at the top of a hill, holding a wine glass in her left hand as a symbol of hospitality.
Located at the same latitude as Rome, Georgia enjoys a moderate climate, which enabled it to become, in the second half of the 20th century, the most prestigious wine supplier to the Soviet Union and, later, to gain recognition in other countries around the world.
The first wine vessels discovered and analyzed by the Institute of Viticulture in Tbilisi contained grape seeds dating back about 7,000 years.
This particular aging technique, using the so-called ‘Qvevri’ (large clay vessels), was added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013. Many of the wineries we visited follow this ancient tradition, burying the amphorae up to the neck and sealing them with an airtight closure made of clay and beeswax, which ensures the ideal conditions for preserving the wine.
In the Qvevri, the must is left in contact with the skins and stems, which settle at the bottom and contribute a wide range of aromatic compounds.
Georgia is home to about 500 indigenous grape varieties, of which around 38 are actually used for winemaking. The regions we visited, primarily Kakheti at the foot of the Caucasus and Kartli in central Georgia, are among the most important wine-growing areas in the country.
There, we had the pleasure of tasting several variations of Saperavi, a grape variety with thick skins and a high tannin content, which is used to produce Kinsmarauli, as well as Rkatsiteli, mainly used for making complex white wines or in combination with Mtsvane, and Aleksandrouli.
As always, the mutual enrichment and exchange of technical information is one of the most rewarding aspects of our consultations, especially at an international level.
