A Georgia story

According to an ancient legend, Georgian soldiers kept a vine branch inside their armor, so if they died in battle, a vine would sprout from their hearts.
Our journey to the cradle of wine tells of the irrepressible desire of Georgians to occupy an exceptional place on the world wine scene at every corner, in every glance and during every meal. In this land, wine was already produced 8,000 years ago. Guiding the winemakers with an artisanal heart is a strong, generous and romantic soul.
Fermentation took place thanks to large terracotta amphorae called qvevri. And it is precisely inside the very ancient vases that, in 2015, archaeologists discovered the residue of a prehistoric winemaking process, confirming what every Georgian has known for a long time: that is, that he was the inventor of the nectar which later belonged to Bacchus, but which today , in the West, we all call it with a term of probable Georgian origin, ghvino.
Thanks to a climate perfectly suited to the cultivation of vines, the ancient inhabitants of Georgia laid the foundations of a viticulture which soon became part of a thousand-year-old culture and a driving force in the development of a civilization whose traces have never been lost, despite the continuous and numerous invasions that have threatened this borderland up to the present day.
Everywhere on our Georgian journey we encountered what Master of Wine Lisa Granik calls in her book The Wines of Georgia: “the rubble of ghostly Soviet industrial cellars”. However, no invader has managed to scratch the soul of the country, instead fueling a strong national pride. Georgian wine has also resisted modernity thanks to the obstinacy and pride of a people who have intertwined their lives with the vine, which has become a symbol of resistance, rebirth and prosperity.
It is no coincidence that Georgia is “the only country in the world where winemaking methods developed 8,000 years ago have not only never been abandoned, but remain in many ways best practice,” wrote journalist Andrew Jefford in the Financial Times.
Inside the cellar called Marani, the qvevri are still buried and used for the production of white and red wines with the technique of prolonged maceration, i.e. the contact of the grape skins with the juice, giving the wines coming from berry grapes white an amber color, tending towards orange, emblem of Georgian wine production, but also of an artisanal and non-standardized way of making wine. These amber wines, elsewhere renamed “orange wines” are characterized by complexity, depth and, above all, by a tannic texture that is usually imperceptible in classic white wines.
The cradle of wine is today the champion of a newfound trend linked to the naturalness of the winemaking process which is leading it to be one of the most popular destinations among oenophiles. . In 2013, winemaking in qvevri obtained UNESCO recognition as an “intangible cultural heritage of humanity”, while from 2021 the typical amphorae enjoy the status of Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), which legally establishes Georgia as the place of origin and codifies it the shape, capacity, raw materials and production method; it was the first non-food product to be classified as PGI.
Furthermore, the Georgians have managed to protect and preserve over 550 varieties of grapes from extinction, continuing to produce wine in the secret of the Marani who hide in many homes, so much so that today there are over 100,000 family wineries throughout the nation.
The winemaker here is considered a custodian of history, a fighter who has fought for centuries to protect his legacy and an archaeologist who digs into the bowels of the earth to plant vines and amphorae and to bring his traditions back to the light of day. Thus wine becomes ritual, viscerality and at the same time spirituality: a renewed authenticity of millenary traditions.
From war to celebration, from myths to rituals, our journey to the cradle of wine ends with participation in a Supra, a celebration full of dishes of all kinds and, obviously, excellent wine. And so, one toast after another, welcomed by an incredibly hospitable and warm people, Georgian wine began to flow through our veins too. A journey to be savored, between antiquity, identity and new authenticity.

Family Winery

The manifesto: the people, the project, the hospitality
Nella zona di Imereti, anche conosciuta come “la piccola Toscana”, sono molti i punti di contatto tra la tradizione georgiana e lo stile italianIn the Imereti area, also known as “little Tuscany”, there are many points of contact between Georgian tradition and Italian style. With Kutaisi as its capital, western Georgia’s Imereti is the second most productive wine region and plays an equally important role in preserving winemaking heritage. Rich in small and authentic wineries, Imereti is the perfect place to discover the Georgia of wine.
Proceeding towards the Black Sea, the climate becomes cooler and more humid than in the eastern part of the country and the wines take on characteristics of freshness, lightness and elegance, balanced by a range of deep and vibrant flavors and aromas. . Here a young Georgian family has chosen to return to their origins and start a new life project guided by the need to honor the immense Georgian wine heritage and inspired by sharing wines and genuine moments. Rurality and conviviality represent the true luxury of small things.
Georgians, like Italians, have cultivated not only vines, but also a wine culture that permeates history, literature, moments of celebration and everyday life. The desire to share one’s traditions in the most authentic and profound way is irrepressible. The creation of a new winery is confirmation of a reappropriation of identity today sung all over the world through exports, but also wine tourism, an increasingly flourishing industry in the country.
Several wineries are adopting the Georgian spirit and techniques for the production of their wines. On the Italian territory on the border with Slovenia, a group of producers inspired by the research work of Josko Gravner, in recent decades have brought consumers closer to the knowledge of conscious viticulture through the export of the ancient methods of winemaking in amphora.
But Georgia is also exporting a feminine vision of wine to the world: a femininity that starts from the concept of creation and family union, but above all as the embodiment of ideals of strength, resistance and nature. Even the colossal statue Kartlis Deda, or Mother Georgia, which dominates the capital Tbilisi from above, holds a sword in one hand and a cup of wine in the other, symbols of a combative and warm people where women have always been symbol of freedom.
In addition to being one of the oldest languages in the world, Georgian has a particularity that is not accidental: it has no gender distinction, even the pronouns are neutral. Furthermore, its sound is at least as distinctive as the writing with rounded letters similar to many small tendrils, or the curls with which the vine clings to its support.
In the same way, clinging to a country tradition, but above all a family one, the new brand will be characterized by a production of thousand-year-old wines but with the flavor of a story that has just begun and yet to be discovered through a modern, unique and experiential hospitality project . Georgia and Tuscany meet in the Imereti region, united by the green and rolling hills that cross both territories, but above all by the sense of beauty and history that illuminates everything.