Georgian viticulture has a double history. That of an immemorial rural tradition, anchoring the vine in daily life, as evidenced by ancestral methods – including winemaking in amphorae – today considered a heritage treasure and an inspiring model for a new generation. That, too, of a mass viticulture that has made this former Soviet republic one of the main suppliers of wine in Eastern Europe. Industrial production has always been conditioned by relations with the Russian neighbor, and subject, more than ever, to the vagaries of geopolitics.
In the 2010s, the discovery, on two mountainous sites in the Caucasus, of 300-litre containers dated from 6000 to 5800 BC, came to consolidate the title acquired by Georgia as the world cradle of wine civilizations. A pride all the more displayed as the tradition of vinification in jars continues in the heart of a society that has remained agricultural. “Almost everyone there has family who own vines and make their own wine for consumption”insists Georgian historian Ana Cheishvili, a tireless promoter of her country’s wines (notably on her blog, “Wines of Georgia”), settled in France for ten years. Traditions enriched by an impressive diversity of endemic grape varieties – more than 500 are listed.
The “kvevris” method
Particularly in the east of the country, each rural household passes on the know-how related to kvevris, a method of pouring marc and must into these clay containers, sealed and buried in the ground, to let the mixture ferment for several months. When carried out with white grape varieties (rkatsiteli, qisi, buera, khikhvi, tsitska…), this maceration gives amber or orange wines, characteristically combining acidity and tannin.
These artisanal productions would however have had difficulty in quenching the thirst of the Russian giant. Annexed by this empire at the beginning of the XIXand century, the Georgian territory sees imposing the expansion of its viticultural potential and the vinification in barrels “in European style”. Large estates are created to guarantee the supply of Russia. Born in Gori, west of the capital, Tbilisi, Stalin encouraged this industrialization. The most productive and resistant grape varieties took precedence over the historical local diversity. If Ukraine was the “breadbasket” of the USSR, Georgia became its wine cellar.
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