Old World
Georgia wine
The country holding the earliest widely accepted archaeological evidence for winemaking, and the home of qvevri vessels.
Overview
Georgia holds the earliest chemical evidence for grape wine so far identified, from Neolithic pottery in the South Caucasus dated to around 6000 BCE. Claims of a single "birthplace of wine" oversimplify a gradual and probably multi-centred process, but the Georgian evidence is currently the oldest of its kind.
The qvevri — a large earthenware vessel buried in the ground — is still in commercial use. Fermentation and maturation in qvevri, often with extended skin contact for white grapes, is the origin of what the modern market calls orange or amber wine. The method is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list.
Saperavi, the principal red variety, is a teinturier: its flesh as well as its skin is pigmented, giving unusually dark, deeply coloured wines.
Sheltered by the Greater Caucasus to the north, with a moderate, humid climate in Kakheti where most production sits.
Regions
continental · moderate
Imereti
Western Georgia, with a qvevri tradition distinct from Kakheti’s — less skin contact, lighter wines.
continental · moderate
Kakheti
Georgia’s principal wine region, and the heartland of qvevri winemaking.
continental · moderate
Kartli
Central Georgia around Tbilisi, flatter and drier than Kakheti, and the base of most Georgian sparkling wine.
continental · cool
Racha-Lechkhumi
A small mountainous region in north-west Georgia, known for naturally semi-sweet reds.
Wines
Grapes grown here
Sources
Sources consulted
- National Wine Agency of Georgia — National Wine Agency, Georgia
- Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method — UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — UNESCO
- Archaeological research on the origins of viticulture and fermented beverages — University of Pennsylvania Museum / peer-reviewed archaeological literature