The Story Of Georgian Wine Has Been 8,000 Years In The Making | Wine

France, Italy and Spain purport to beryllium nan best-loved classical vino regions, but if you’re successful nan marketplace for nan existent old-world deal, look nary further than Georgia, which has much than 8,000 years of winemaking prowess. There’s thing astir this spot connected nan lush intersection of nan silk roads betwixt Europe and Asia that gets nether nan skin. Perhaps it’s nan operation of unpolished authenticity paired pinch profound generosity (guests are considered a gift from God and fed accordingly), each while being mildly rocked successful a cradle of civilisation, that make Georgian vino truthful beguiling. (My first sojourn successful August 2023 – a khachapuri-fuelled reconnaissance for my book, Drinking nan World: A Wine Odyssey – lingered successful my mind agelong aft my formation touched backmost down connected British tarmac.

What I find astir refreshing is that nan country, and its wine, is wholly itself, contempt being hemmed successful by empires pinch a proclivity for penetration (Persians, Turks, Mongols et al), arsenic good arsenic nan decades spent nether USSR rule, which betwixt 1922 and 1991 switched nan grape-growing attraction to output complete quality. Today, you really consciousness nan Georgian delight astatine flipping that aged Soviet diktat connected its head.

The winemakers I met were laser-focused connected nurturing their Georgian-ness, while nan country’s 525-plus indigenous grape varieties consequence successful kaleidoscopic left-field flavours. When John Wurdeman, nan American co-founder of Pheasant’s Tears winery, came connected to nan segment successful 2007, he gave Georgian wines a model to nan world. Early adopters specified arsenic Yotam Ottolenghi helped bring them into nan mainstream, and their surging fame (UK measurement income accrued by 72% successful 2024) runs successful congruence pinch nan emergence of earthy wine. In fact, you tin clasp this area of nan Caucasus accountable for nan profusion of voguish bars proffering groovy-labelled orangish wines, though nan fermentation of skin-contact “amber” vino successful qvevri (egg-shaped clay vessels buried underground) has been à la mode present since Neolithic times.

For a vino enthusiast, Georgia is for illustration tapping into nan root code. The sommelier Honey Spencer sees it arsenic “the last frontier”, while nomadic winemaker Darren Smith dubs nan state “the holiest of holies”. Hot, barren Kakheti successful nan eastbound produces nan lion’s stock of Georgia’s wines, typically bold reds and ambers, and I was peculiarly wowed by a qvevri-aged saperavi (an inky-skinned reddish pinch heady notes of blackcurrant and leather) made by Orgo’s respected Giorgi Dakishvili. From nan country’s west, meanwhile, expect bright, caller wines. I loved nan beautifully system wines from Oda, group up by literate professional turned winemaker Keto Ninidze, while names to cognize successful Imereti are Archil Guniava and nan Abuladze related trio down Baia (where Smith made wines nether his The Finest Wines Available to Humanity label), some of which clasp endemic varieties: nan vermentino-like tsolikauri, nan crisp, late-blooming krakhuna and tsitska’s herbal aromas.

Spencer, of Sune edifice successful eastbound London, precocious masterminded nan fantabulous vino database astatine DakaDaka, 2026’s astir breathtaking Georgian opening. “When I was first trying these wines backmost successful 2011, a batch of nan reds were incredibly dense and not really suited to nan occidental palate,” she says. “That was a Soviet hangover. They person changed, though. There’s a lightness and a deftness of touch successful astir Georgian wines now.”

A Georgian starter set

Pheasant’s Tears Rkatsiteli Bodbiskhevi 2023 £22 Shrine to nan Vine, 12.5%. Made from Georgia’s most-plated achromatic grape, this sprightly, qvevri-aged vino has a lovely, peppery finish.

Oda Wines Orbeluri Ojaleshi 2021 £29 Sager and Wine, 12%. Lechkhumi’s limestone soils move this uncommon grape into a dark, grown-up rosé pinch tarragon notes.

Gorgeous Georgia Red £10 Waitrose, 11.5%. A silky saperavi that’s a spot for illustration a blend of primitivo and beaujolais. Perfect for midweek pouring.

Bedoba Orange 2022, £17.50 Georgian Wine Shop, 13%. Honeyed orangish peel, chaotic herbs and a captivating texture: this rkatsiteli-kisi blend is fermented successful a operation of qvevri and stainless steel.

• Victoria Brzezinski is co-author of Drinking nan World: A Wine Odyssey, published by Pavilion Books/HarperCollins astatine £22. To bid a transcript for £19.80 spell to guardianbookshop.com