Georgia - The Cradle of Wine?

No not as in Atlanta and Macon, but rather Tbilisi and Telavi. The ancient nation of Georgia, hidden within the deepest folds of the Caucasus mountains at the crossroads of east and west (and north and south for that matter) is most often cited as the birthplace of wine, or at least the place that it learned to crawl. Other scholars point to neighboring nations like Armenia and Iran as other possible locations for the original red or white, though the level of archeological evidence found in Gerogia is so thick that it seems more than a safe hypothesis that Georgia was the THE birthplace. Sites dated to between 2000 BC - 3000 BC in Mtskheta, Pitsunda, Trialeti and other places have turned up a bevy of artifacts that were used in, or make reference to winemaking: clay pots crusted with grape seeds, hooked pruning knives, metal drinking vessels, and even jewelery depicting bunches of grapes, and intertwined vines. Even the Georgian name for wine - gvino - seems to indicate that even the name of this greatest of beverages may have been borrowed by the Romans directly from the Georgians.

And the fact that winemaking survives and thrives in contemporary Gerogia is no small feat. Georgia now, and for hundreds of years in the past has been surrounded by larger, hostile, and non-winedrinking cultures like the Arabs, Turks, and Persians. These three military juggernauts have taken turns trampling their wine-making neighbor (Georgia’s capitol Tbilisi has been burned to the ground no less than 19 times!) and with each invasion winemaking took it directly on the chin. But the Georgians being the tenacious, indomitable people that they are have always managed somehow to drive out their dominators, or least wait them out. The picture above is of “Mother Georgia” (Kartlis Deda in Gerogian) who directly offers a bowl of wine to Georgia’s friends, and just as clearly a sword to her enemies!

The lion’s share of wine made in Georgia (about 70%) comes from the sunny and dry eastern province of Kakheti that is itself divided into 25 distinct sub-zones. Some of the other more important wine growing areas in Georgia are found in Kartli (also in eastern Georgia) and in Imereti and Racha-Lechkhumi in the hotter and more humid regions of western Georgia. Like Italy and Portugal, Georgia is famous for its great wealth of native varieties (over 500 and still counting), VERY few of which are found anywhere outside of Georgia (though the white-berried Rkatsiteli variety is shockingly one of the most widely planted white variety in the world!).

As money and technology continue to build within the Georgian wine industry, “modern” winemaking techniques have begun to gain ascendence, but traditional Gerogian winemaking still thrives, and is worth a mention. Traditional Gerogian wines are vinified in HUGE (well big enough to stand inside of), pointy-bottomed terra cotta jugs called kvevri . These huge vessels are buried up to their necks in the earth, are then lidded, and then a small hut is built over the spot. Traditional fermentation was/is effected spontaneously via wild airborne yeasts, and there is no separation of must/seeds/stems/skins at any point in the process. After pressing, EVERYTHING goes into the kvevri. And if not for the softening effects of the terra cotta material, wine made in this manner would produce a wine so tannic that it would take decades for them to soften enough to be enjoyable. The finished wine is removed from the kvevri via long, oversized ladles.

Georgian patterns of wine consumption are also worth noting. Georgians drink wine every day just like their wine-drinking bretheren in Southern and Western Europe, and like most wine cultures, the beverage holds a place above that of any other, and a certain extra measure of reverence is accorded to it by virtue of that fact. The average Georgian can and does put away more than his or her share of wine, but obvious and/or obtrusive drunkenness is frowned upon even though the traditional Georgian drinking vessel is made from silver-trimmed ox horns whose shape clearly makes it difficult to set down unless it has been fully drained!

And this brings us to the Supra, and its head the Tamada (ta ma DAH). The supra is a traditional Gerogian feast that is usually prepared for an honored guest (the Georgians’ propensity for nearly embarassing levels of hospitality is legendary), and especially if there is a foreign visitor. There is a saying in Georgian that “A guest is a gift from God”…The Supra involves nearly obscene amounts food that is brought out in waves without having cleared the still partially filled dishes from the previous courses to create a sort of ever-increasing bounty effect. Throughout the development of a Supra, which can easily last 4 or 5 hours, the Tamada (toastmaster) is a sort of emcee/facilitator for the whole affair. The actual protocol for a Tamada at the Supra is very complex, but essentially the Tamada (usually the oldest male present) proposes a series of toasts to the guest(s) who in turn praises and thanks the Tamada and then proposes a toast in praise of Georgia, the supra’s hosts, etc. Others, with the Tamada’s permission may propose toasts, and from this aspect, another set of rules and protocols come into play. One of the Tamada’s most important jobs at the Supra is to assure that everyone is enjoying him or herself, and that everyone is enjoying the euphoric benefits of wine drinking without becoming obnoxiously drunk. A good Tamada keeps an eye on all of his guests, and can and will (temporarily) cut people off if he deems that they are becoming too drunk to enjoy the food or are beginning to annoy the other guests. And at some point in the proceedings, out come the songs! The Georgians boast a unique and sophisticated singing culture (the only place with vocal polyphony outside of Western Europe) and as the food and drink at the Supra really begin to flow, so do the songs, often with the entire table locking arms and belting out the exotic a capella singing style for which Georgia is famous.

So that’s my primer on the (likely) birthplace of wine. If you couldn’t tell, I am a real “Georgiaphile”, and I hope to post a Gerogian recipe or two later this week that will pair perfectly with the Gerogian wines I’ve linked to below. Georgian cuisine is WONDERFUL - in my opinion, of the best “undiscovered” cuisines in the world…check back in a few days…

TOM CIOCCO

Georgia on my mind!