Georgia. The Birthplace of Wine.
A country the world calls by the wrong name
Georgians call themselves Kartveli. Their country is Sakartvelo, the small nation between Europe and Asia known internationally as Georgia, not the U.S. state. The name Georgia came from outside, through Persian and Greek trade routes, possibly tangled up with Saint George, who is deeply venerated here. Neither Georgia nor the Russian Gruzia was ever a name Georgians chose for themselves.
Most people cannot find this country on a map. It sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north, Turkey to the south, Armenia and Azerbaijan just below the Caucasus Mountains, where some peaks rise above 5,000 meters. The whole country is smaller than South Carolina. Inside that small footprint sits more biodiversity, more microclimates, and more grape varieties than almost anywhere else on earth. Georgia is where wine started, eight thousand years ago.
8,000 years of winemaking
The
qvevri
method
In Georgia, wine starts in a qvevri, a large clay vessel handmade and buried in the earth with only its neck visible above ground. Grapes are harvested, pressed, and poured in together with their skins, seeds and stems. The vessel is sealed. The wine ferments in darkness for up to six months, using only wild yeasts, at a temperature kept constant by the surrounding earth. No additives. No chemicals. No technology invented after 6,000 BC.
Georgians do not say wine is made in a qvevri. They say it is born there. In 2013, UNESCO added this method to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, official recognition of something Georgian families already knew. Georgia is also home to more than 500 indigenous grape varieties, roughly one sixth of all grape varieties on earth. Open a bottle of Georgian wine and you are drinking from a grape found nowhere else on the planet.
Wine is not
just a drink
here
Georgian wine culture is not an accident of geography. In Georgia, wine is tied to religious and national identity at the deepest level. When Saint Nino brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century, she carried a cross made from grapevine branches, tied together with her own hair. Georgia became one of the first nations on earth to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The symbol chosen for that moment was not gold. It was a vine.
At the Georgian feast table, called a supra, a toastmaster called the tamada leads the room through dozens of toasts. To peace. To family. To people no longer alive. To the guests at the table, who are treated as a gift from God. Wine here is not something you drink to relax. It is how Georgians say the things that actually matter, out loud, in front of everyone. Many families still keep a qvevri buried in their own backyard, and make their own wine every year, the same way their grandparents did, whether or not they ever sell a bottle of it.
The world's
oldest secret
Georgia has been making wine longer than any country on earth, so why does the world think wine started in France? For most of the 20th century, Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, and wine production was controlled by the state for mass export to Russia. Georgian winemakers lost access to the rest of the world's markets, while France and Italy spent that same century building brands the whole world would recognize.
Independence came in 1991, and wineries across Georgia went back to making wine the old way. What looks like a new discovery in America is something Georgian winemakers never stopped doing at home. Koncho and Co, the winery we import from in Kakheti, began in 1737 as the king's own winery. No importers layered in between, no shortcuts to your door. You do not need to fly to Tbilisi to taste eight thousand years of winemaking. Just open a bottle.
FAQ
What is a Georgian supra?
A supra is a traditional Georgian feast where a toastmaster called the tamada leads the table through dozens of toasts, to peace, family, and the guests, who are treated as a gift from God. Wine is central to the supra, not as something to relax with, but as the way Georgians mark what actually matters.
Why is Georgian wine still not well known outside Georgia?
For most of the 20th century, Georgia was part of the Soviet Union, where wine production was controlled by the state for mass export to Russia, cutting Georgian winemakers off from markets in the rest of the world. Georgia regained independence in 1991 and wineries went back to making wine the traditional way, but it has taken decades for that wine to reach markets like the United States.
What is the history behind qvevri wine from Georgia?
Qvevri wine has been made in Georgia for roughly 8,000 years, using large clay vessels buried underground to ferment and age wine with only wild yeasts. Archaeological evidence of this method dates back to 6,000 BC, the oldest known evidence of winemaking on earth. Grapes are pressed with their skins, seeds, and stems intact and left to ferment in total darkness for up to six months, a method UNESCO recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013. Wine production was tightly controlled during the Soviet era, and Georgian qvevri wine only became widely available in markets like the US after Georgia's independence in 1991.
What makes Georgian qvevri wine unique compared to other wines?
Georgian qvevri wine is fermented and aged in large clay vessels buried in the ground rather than steel tanks or oak barrels, using only wild yeasts and no additives. Nothing is added and nothing is taken away: no cultivated yeast, no added sugar, no preservatives, no fining or filtering. That is what makes qvevri wine a natural wine, a true low intervention style rather than a marketing label. Because the grapes ferment with their skins, seeds, and stems for months, qvevri wine, especially white and amber styles, develops a color, texture, and tannin structure unlike wine made anywhere else. Georgia is also home to more than 500 indigenous grape varieties, roughly one sixth of all grape varieties on earth, many found nowhere outside the country. Qvevri Wine Georgia imports its qvevri wines directly from Koncho and Co, a winery in Kakheti that began in 1737 as the king's own winery.