Vines Alive

An underlying philosophy at Vitis is being able to offer clients wines they would never otherwise think to experience. It is why we held out for so long on having a tangible wine-list, worried that the usual suspects in the wine world would cement their routine. Wine cannot be contained by a few grapes or methods, nor place names. The beauty of wine is the history, culture, anthropology… the sheer humanity behind every opening of the cork. Wine is older than the pyramids, the wheel and even written language; and as we reflect on a grape or certain agriculture, we take part in humankind – thousands of vintages that have already passed through the hourglass. A glass of wine is a chance to open to a new culture, a new method, a new taste, and new historical moment. So today we pay homage to this idea. We throw our readers and clients back to 6,000 BC, when Neolithic people in the South Caucasus, now Georgia, would bury wild grape juice over the winter.  

Wine, A Brief Timeline

In 2015, archaeologists dated ancient clay vessels from south-eastern Georgia. At 8,000 years old, these clay instruments were storing wine below ground roughly 5,000 years before the Iron Age. Though the likes of Turkey, Egypt, Iran and Georgia seem to be new players in the wine market, they actually represent the birth of wine.Vitis Vinifera, the near-mythical common ancestor for all grapes, hails from West Asia. It is especially ironic that Georgian wines are only now really becoming an international trend, for it was the fermentation of this prometheus grape under Georgian hands which can call itself our original wine. 

Caucasian knowledge of grape fermentation left the mountains and found the seas, with the Phoenicians adding their entrepreneurial influence and thus ferrying it around the Mediterranean. Consequently, this launched the Greek viticultural timeline, whose colonisation added to innovation and the exchange of grapes; when grapes found new shores, they slowly mutated under differing climates. The Romans then systematically influenced winemaking as they did everything else, cementing lucrative viticulture across their Empire. Some linguists have argued that the root for the word ‘wine’, from ‘vinum’ (Latin) and ‘oinos’ (Greek), was most likely a Mediterraneanisation of an original Caucasian word.

Kvevri or Qvevri: Hibernating Wine

Georgia's original wine was, as we said, made in qvevri: picture a handle-less Greek amphora in which the wild grapes, their stems and juice would ferment underground over winter. In time the interiors were lined with beeswax, both waterproof and antiseptic. 

In the medieval period, Georgia remained undisturbed by crusaders (as a Christian nation) which allowed the wine industry to develop. Later on, remaining outside of the Islamic Ottoman empire allowed wine production to continue. In Soviet times, Georgia's wine world exploded all the way until Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaigns. In recent times we find a renaissance in international interest for Georgia's unique viticulture. Indeed, there has been a return to the traditional Georgian vinification of qvevri wine. Nevertheless, Georgian wine doesn't need to hibernate in order to elicit attention. Of the roughly 10,000 grape varietals in the world, over 500 of them can call Georgia home. The land is incredibly complex, with diverse climate, coastal plains, river valleys, and huge mountains. A taste of Georgia will be idiosyncratic, regardless of the producer's chosen vinification.   

Georgian Wines @ Vitis 

John Okro

One of the most respected natural winemakers in Kakheti, eastern Georgia: the premier place of production. Okro focuses on powerful and traditional skin-contact wines, and his tannic, mandarin and rosemary Rkatsiteli is the perfect place to start your Georgian wine journey. The grape itself is Georgia's most common white-wine variety, but mostly produced in Kakheti. Okro's vineyards are cool and high-altitude in comparison to the warmer Kakhetian plains. This wine is bold and unbelievably individual, a gorgeous expression of Rkatsiteli skin-contact. 

Iago Bitarishvili - Iago's Wine

In the central region of Kartli, Iago showcases the varietal of Chinuri. One of the first to return to the qvevri method despite concerns from other winemakers, Iago produces both a skin-contact and non-skin contact wine. Iago was also the first recipient of organic certification in the whole of Georgia! It took him from 1998 to 2005 to achieve this, but he was resolute after the pollution and devastation of the war. Our skin-contact Iago Chinuri provides an exemplar for Kartli's terroir, uninhibited by oak or steel. 

Pheasant's Tears Winery

Based in Sighnaghi, Kakheti, and founded in 2007, all Pheasant's Tears wines are vinified and aged in qvevri, named in lieu of a Georgian saying that only the finest of wines can make a pheasant weep. The Poliphonia is a taste to be believed red wine 'field blend' of more than 200 grapes! In Soviet times, most grapes were disregarded, but now wineries like Pheasant's Tears can reshine a forgotten light on some of the 525 indigenous varietals.Vitis also boasts their unique Vardisperi Rkatsiteli, an almost abandoned pink-skinned grape that produces a gorgeously floral light-red. These reds highlight the unfiltered strangeness and deliciousness of Kakheti. Finally, we also have a Chinuri, which will provide an interesting comparison to Iago's Wine, where the same grapes, both vinified in qvevri, will express different Georgian regions.  

At Vitis we are delighted that we can offer such a range of wines, sampling both their taste and history. We hope to expose you to more Georgian wines as our cellar builds, but for now, these unique bottles are the perfect starting point to explore an 8,000 year history... 

Ci vediamo presto!

Giancarlo Tocci and Julian Kitsz 

Sources:

'Discover the secret birthplace of wine', National Geographic, Official Site, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/sponsor-content-secret-birthplace-of-wine#:~:text=Georgia%20is%20generally%20considered%20the,it%20underground%20for%20the%20winter

'Georgian Wine Region', Wine Searcher, Official Site, https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-georgian%20republic

Georgian Wine Society, Official Site, https://georgianwinesociety.co.uk/

'Iago Bitarishvili – The Chinuri Master', The Morning Claret, https://themorningclaret.com/2017/iago-bitarishvili-chinuri-2015/ 

'John Okro, Mtsvane - Kakheti, Georgia', Le Caveau, Office Site, https://lecaveau.ie/products/john-okro-mtsvane-kakheti-georgia

Pheasant's Tears, Official Site, https://www.pheasantstears.com/winw-vineyard

Wines of Georgia, Official Site, https://winesgeorgia.com/wine-history/