Georgia is unquestionably the birthplace of wine. Grape seeds have been found in Caucasian tombs 7000 years old, along with wine implements such as clay vessels, nowhere else in the world is their evidence of viniculture so old. Indeed the word "wine" has been traced to our Georgian word g'vino, which has been in use for far longer than most modern languages have existed.

Indeed there is no country where wine is more revered and a wine culture so developed and cherished. Incredibly there are over 500 indigenous species of grape (most used for wine) far more than anywhere else, most of them still completely unknown to the rest of the world. Here you can taste wildly unique varieties of wine in a vast array of subtle flavour differences.

Today most wine is still produced in exactly the same way it was long ago. Grapes are placed in large earthenware vessels called "quervi", some large enough to fit a person inside, buried in the ground up to their necks. These special wine vaults are then sealed and left to ferment for three or four months. The result is a tannin and vitamin-rich wine, completely organic and distinctively flavourful. Georgian wine is so pure and untainted by artificial ingredients (such as sulphites) that hangover are practically unknown.

Visit virtually any home in the premiere wine-growing region of Kakheti and be greeted at the door by a glass of traditionally made home-produced wine - a tradition dating back at least three thousand years, and a delight to any traveller. Make sure you try home made white wines, “chacha", made with a process where the skin is left on for part of the fermentation and with their own uncommon colour and taste.

Georgia's moderate climate and moist air, influenced by the Black Sea, provide the ideal conditions for wine culturing. Names like Saperavi, Mukuzani, are becoming increasingly familiar to wine connoisseurs around the world. We are more than proud to show off the process that takes these fine grapes from vine to bottle - and then of course, to the Table.

We treasure our wine and our wine traditions over all else - and invite you to taste the fruit of our labours for yourself.

 

GWS
Georgia is the homeland of wine - says a greater part of the world's competent experts. Archeologists and historians possess a number of material evidences including 7000 years old grape stones and many more very antique vessels, also survive remarks of a number of foreign chroniclers and travelers. The cult of grapevine and wine is the very part of every true Georgian's flesh and bone - from spiritual and religious life to the living's everyday trivia we can come across it. In the first part of the IV century of our era St. Nino arrived into the limits of Georgia with an upheld cross made of intertwined grapevine arbor, with it bringing the light of Christianity, the religion of Georgians, over to Georgia. The Georgians believe that our homeland had been predestined to the Holy Theotokos and the Virgin Lady being the object of our worship is even likened to a grapevine and a vineyard in a church hymn - so much the same in youth, so much the same in kindness, "…planted within the Garden of Eden…", so much the same in purity. "It is like chrism…" - they say …and take this truly divine drink whether in distress or jollity, when dining or at holidays. In Georgia whatever place wine is served there a toast is voiced as well, with human hearts being outpoured, there words and deep thoughts reign, there it is the most ancient, unblemished and loved tradition.

In Georgia wine and its cult set off their traditional way that in its beginning is plunged in bygone days of oblivion - one section of it as far back as the oldest and cryptic paganism (Aguna and Nunua - the predecessor gods to Dionysus and Bacchus). Homer and Strabo remarked about the Georgians: "They sing, rock, regale, nobody can venture upon offending them." When hearing the songs that survive from those times and when surveying the vessels obtained from ancient layers, one can realize the culture at that time undergoing the process of formation as being tough and unique. And indeed, already as early as X-XI cc. the apprentices of one of the greatest centers of learning of those times - the Gelati Academy - were commanding the technicalities of wine production, there survive spacious maranies (location for storing wine in special pitchers) dated from then that have hitherto kept for the ever changing generations the secrets of Georgian wine culture… Of roughly 500 unique kinds of grapes they could produce a number of perfect wines, the Georgians know very well how to match a wine with a dish, which wine to serve to better fit the number of invited guests or the nature of celebration.

Who has ever caught a glimpse of a laborer working in a vineyard may know what titanic work the grapevine requires. There are about 500 kinds of grapevine in Georgia and all of them should be cared for. The Georgian had never turned away from the vine he used to bring up like his own child, had never been reluctant to vivify or again cultivate it when it was devastated by the conquerors, even though the enemy would at first always try to ravage what was most precious and dear. There were conquerors that were cleverer, for instance the Assyrians invading the Georgian lands in the IX century B.C. were delighted with the Georgian wine and demanded it as a tribute. The fame of our wine is well known even among distant nations - the fact that the words denoting wine and grapevine sorts in many vernaculars are of Georgian origin is of big significance for one.

Of particular importance is the Georgian table too, where one may come upon everything so typical to one's country, town or the bosom of one's family that is a bit of tyranny (sometimes), a bit of love, a bit of sway and even anarchy (sometimes as well), homage, poetry, disobedience and punishment, competition and complaisance, grieve and glee and by all means the Georgian wine. The wine that has almost unchangeably survived to this very day and along with the art of singing and folklore has preserved a unique polish and subtlety to the Georgian culture.

 

Let us invite you to a wonderful world of Georgian wines rich in quality and tradition!

Among them is Antique author Apollonius of Rhodes, who panegyrics Georgia in his Argonautica in 295 B.C. Georgia is filled with legends, ceremonies and traditions that posses the deepest appreciation for winemaking. To taste the wine born in this land of warriors and poets, in a valley guarded by the mighty Caucasus range, located at the cross-roads of the East and West, is like a pleasant stroll through history!
Thousands years of knowledge, tradition, & excellence have contributed to the development of unique and exciting grape varietals from which Georgian wines are made.
500 sorts of vine, out of 4000 registered throughout the world, are Georgian.
Special devotion to vine has kept alive nearly 500 local Georgian vine varieties – 38 of which are used for commercial wine production.
Famous sorts of Georgian wines are Rkatsiteli, Manavi, Napareuli, Tibaani, Tsinandali, Vazisubani, Mukuzani, Saperavi, Kindzmarauli, Khvanchkara, Ojaleshi, etc. The head of the Georgian table is Tamada, a person who proposes traditional toasts.
There are many traditions associated with wine.
In Georgia, newborn child is welcomed with a toast. At his death, a farewell is said with a toast. If you come to Georgia you’ll be excited with hospitality of the people. Traditions of winemaking as well as the secrets of preparing Georgian feast “supra”, which is an Aladdin’s cave of culinary discovery, are transmitted over generations.
Famous sorts of Georgian wines are Rkatsiteli, Manavi, Napareuli, Tibaani, Tsinandali, Vazisubani, Mukuzani, Saperavi, Kindzmarauli, Khvanchkara, etc. The head of the Georgian table is Tamada, a person who proposes traditional toasts.
The wine and food should complement each-other not battle against each-other. When pairing food and wine, the goal is synergy and balance. A good match will bring out the nuances and enhance the flavors and unique characteristics of both and the wine.

Wine culture was given life together with the birth of Georgia. Grape seeds dated back to 7-6 thousand years B.C. and 3000 years old huge clay jugs discovered during the excavations from ancient settlements prove this assumption. Some even consider, that a generic world “wine” stems from the Georgian word “ghvino” Many famous poets, writers and travelers describe in their masterpieces Georgia as the land of the antique traditions of vine-growing and winemaking.