The  wine culture  and its importance exist in the  long  history of Georgian nation  from its beginning till now.

Throughout the centuries, in the periods of the country’s rise and fall, wine was considered as a drink of rituals and the essential element of everyday existence

Such an important element of the country’s identity  was reflected not only in the Georgian Christen and pagan architecture, but also in folklore, in  folk songs and traditional rituals.

Georgia is often called as cradle of wine and it is not surprising – the growth and cultivation of grapes in this country have at least 8000 years of history. The grape seeds discovered in the region of Kvemo Kartli, near Marneuli are dated back to the sixth millennium BC.

The artifacts of BC times which were found throughout Georgia were used for grape growing and wine-making, like the pottery fragments and ritual cups of wine, which prove the existence and importance of the wine culture during pagan times.

Georgia’s tradition of making wines began eight thousand years ago—three thousand years before the invention of writing and five thousand years before the beginning of the Iron Age. While ancient civilizations like Egypt and Greece developed wine cultures of their own, all owed a debt to Georgian viticulture.

Entire dynasties have come and gone while the people of Georgia have continued making wine. And in the process, we have earned the distinction of cultivating the world’s longest unbroken tradition of winemaking..

There are two basic methods of winemaking in the world: European and Georgian

According to the European method after squeezing the grape, grape seeds and skins are separated from the grape juice and then the juice is fermented.

Georgia is home to a unique winemaking tradition that has survived for thousands of years.

Grapes are crushed in the special pitcher “qvevri” which is made from the clay and is buried into the ground. . After squeezing, the grape seeds, skins and stem/stalk Remain with the juice from two weeks to three (or more) months and are fermenting together. Because qvevri is buried underground, where the earth’s temperature remains fairly consistent, they provide a controlled environment for fermentation

And the vessels’ unique pointed shape allows sediment to collect at the bottom, while the wine moves freely around the wider center. After fermentation, wines are transferred to another qvevri to age, acquiring even greater dimension.

 The pitcher is closed hermetically. Traditionally, the pitcher’s top was covered with fig leaves and then the clay cover was put above

During this process, the tannins and other microelements penetrate into the wine. Prolonged contact with the skins produces wine that is dry and deep, plus great stability and structure. 

From the end of February till the mid of March the covers of the pitchers are open and the wine is taken, which is rich in flavor and has a specific color. Unlike the wine made with European technology it has darker beige color. This method is used for making both red and white wines.  In 2013, the ancient traditional Georgian winemaking method using the Kvevri clay jars declared as a UNESCO world Intangible Cultural Heritage.

It is also  worth to mention  that from over 4000 grape varieties in the world , 500 are Georgian endemic ones, and during different periods Turks, the Mongols, the Iranians and  the Communists were vainly trying  to eradicate them.

Georgian wine during soviet union

In the days of the old Soviet Union, whilst Ukraine was known as the breadbasket of Russia, Georgia was known as the wine cellar.

During Soviet times wine produced in Georgia was the first by its quality, taste and different species, on the other hand soviet time was the downhill period for Georgian wine, bcos demand was on huge quantities of wine and with this quality of wine was getting low and low. Beside this, In comparison with other wines from Moldavia and Crimea that were available on the Soviet market Georgian wines had been more preferable for Soviets. In 1985 wine production was 881,000 tons.

During Mikhail Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign, many old Georgian vineyards were cut off. They was interested in complete destruction of Georgian grape varieties “which did not pertain with the Soviet economy,”

Lot of rich kakhetians peasants were exiled to cyberia during soviet cleansing. A lot of peasants were shot in their vineyards because communists forced them to destruct over 200 endemic types of their grapes, which they didn’t. Some of them managed to take each of the grape varieties from their vineyards and plant them in the forests. Nowadays, many wine factories are trying to search for and recover the endemic grapes that were eradicated by Communists and to re-introduce them

End of soviet era

2000 year is the beginning of the modern history of Georgia in wine-making. In this year established most Georgian wine making companies. These companies created new vineyards, factories and also they created new wine cellars and updated older wine cellars

They started introduction of new technologies in winemaking and also their factories were able to satisfy high standards.

Embargo

The critical periods for Georgian wine making companies was 2006-2008. At this period Russia added embargo about wine to our country. Russia claimed Georgia produced counterfeit wine. It was an “official” reason, but instability of economic relations with Russia is well known, as they use the economic ties for political purposes

Counterfeiting problems stem from mislabeling by foreign Producers and falsified “Georgian Wine” labels on wines produced outside of Georgia and imported into Russia under the auspices of being Georgian produced

 This was very bad and stressful situation for Georgia because Russian market was consumer of 80% of wine which was produced in Georgia. Russian market was Georgia’s primary market for many years. This was a serious harm to Georgian wine making companies, for Georgian economy and for Georgian peasants. As always harvest of plural grapes was huge at this period, so most of the harvest was tainted because there was no demand as high as was supply

At the end of this hard period Georgian companies slowly started to find new markets for wine. Georgia was forced to look to the west for potential export markets, and its vineyards began to focus more on quality and marketing, adapting their production techniques to suit new western tastes.  Of course the rate of this export was very small at first time, but year after year this rate started growing

RECENT HISTORY OF GEORGIAN WINE

Today Georgian wine is stocked by British supermarkets such as Marks and Spencer, and is becoming increasingly popular in the United States and Europe, particularly the northern European states.

This has been further aided by the 2014 free trade agreement between Georgia and the European Union removing trade tariffs on Georgian wine. Whilst Russia resumed importing wine in 2013, Georgia is understandably reluctant to rely too heavily on its fickle neighbor, and continues to focus on quality wines. To reduce the risk presented by any future unilateral embargoes by Russia.

Today, the beverage is produced by hundreds of small farmers, monasteries, and factories using both traditional and European methods.