Georgian Wine Education

"Georgia has produced the earliest evidence of wine selection and hence the emergence of the cultivated variety: Vitis vinifera sativa. Carbon-dating puts this change to domestication at about 5,000 BC."

"The Vintner's Art", Hugh Johnson & James Halliday

"The Transcaucasian region, home today to the Georgians, is one of Vitis vinifera sativa land and is believed to have been the place where grapes were first harvested to be made into wine some 7000 years ago."

"VINOPOLIS World Wine Guide", Oz Clark

The ancient kingdom of Georgia is nestled along the southern exposures of the Great Caucasus Mountains, Europe's highest. Its remarkably varied topography ranges from near desert in the east to subtropical lowlands in the far west along the Black Sea coast that receive up from 1000mm-4000mm of rain per annum; and from sharp, snow-covered peaks in the north to the undulating plateaus, forests and plains that descend southward into Turkey. More than one-third of the country lies in this influential mountain system. Georgia has long been famous as an agricultural country. Almost everything grows there, given the wide range of climates and topography. But preeminent among Georgia's verdant harvest is wine.

  • Qvevri Wine Making: Oldest in the World

    Georgia is famous for its 8,000 year old Qvevri method recognized by UNESCO as the oldest wine making tradition on the World Heritage list. In this millennia old method the entire wine making process takes place in large clay jars, called qvevri, buried underneath the ground. More info Coming Soon.

  • Modern Wine Making Techniques

    While qvevri wine making is Georgias claim to fame it also has a centuries old tradition of making wines in modern wine making techniques. By utilizing stainless steel and selected yeast, much like the French, georgians search to make varietally pure wines to explore their 525 varietals. More soon.

  • Georgian Varietals 101: Rkatsiteli

    Georgia has over 500 indigenous vinifera grape varietals in a country only the size of West Virginia. Currently approximately 37 varietals are used in commercial production with more being planted each year. In stead of going through all 525 Georgian Varietals we will start by educating you on some of the most important grape varietals grown in Georgia. The first by far is Rkatsiteli (ra-ka-see-tell-ee), which is one of the oldest known vinifera varietals as well as the most planted in Georgia. Rkatstieli literally means "red horn" (rka--Horn tsiteli-RED) and is easily picked out in the vineyard by its distinctive red stem and amber hued skin.

  • Saperavi Georgia's Shockingly Good Red

    Saperavi (saw-pear-ah-vee) is an indigenous Georgian red varietal and the most grown red grape varietal in Georgia. Saperavi, literally means "dye"  in Georgian and is a teinturier grape meaning it has red pigment in both its skin and flesh which is very rare. Saperavi is primarily grown in the eastern region of Kakheti but you can find it planted in most regions in Georgia. It produces medium to full bodied wines with dark inky color and a range of aromas within a spectrum of chocolate, coffee tones to fresh cherry, blueberry and even herbs. It is extremely versatile but shows terroir beautifully. 

  • Maps of Georgian Wine Regions

    Here you can find Maps of various Georgian wine making regions.
  • The Many Colors of Georgian Wine - Educational Series on Georgian wine

    The great news is that Georgian wines' popularity continues to grow (imports to the US were up 50% in 2020 despite the pandemic!!) and with it we have a growing group of wine professionals who are actively involved in selling and sharing Georgian wines with other industry professionals and most importantly consumers. These amazing people, like yourselves, are at varying levels of experience with Georgian wine, but a resounding cry among our contacts in over 20 states is “we need more knowledge! We are ready to dive deeper!” Georgian wine is so rich with tradition, and so alive that there are so much to explore, discover and share with each other. And let's face it some of our varieties can be a mouthful!

    In response, in 2021 we, Georgian Wine House, launched a new educational series for wine professionals across the US focused on creating and fostering a community who will dive deeper into Georgian wine, its traditions, new and established producers, new varietals and more. Our goal is to create a community and resources to support members who participate in every stage of bringing Georgian wines to folks in the US, distributors, sales representatives, wine shops, sommeliers, servers, writers and more! 

    Every month we will hold a virtual seminar for parts of our communities in different regions of the US. In each of the seminars we will:

    1) discuss a theme or topic of Georgian wine that is important to our wine community
    2) have featured speakers (winemakers, wine professionals, you get the idea!)
    3) provide samples of three wines related to the theme for you and your teams to taste!








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