The Birthplace of Wine

Charles W. Borden

It was only a matter of time before we would get to the wines of Georgia, considered by many to be the best of countries of the USSR. There is some basis for this claim, and not only because Georgia-born Stalin provided the industry with extensive resources. Georgian wines have a royal lineage; it is considered the source of the first cultivated grapevines. Tools of grape and wine production, clay vessels for wine, and art and jewelry depicting grapes and grape leaves found in Georgia have been dated as far back as 5000 BC. The ancient symbol of Christianity in Georgia, which arrived in the fourth century, is a cross woven of grapevines.
Georgian grape varieties are little known in the West. The two most important grapes used in Georgian wines, Rkatsiteli and Saperavi, have the potential to produce excellent, if not great, wines. Rkatsiteli is a white variety that is so widely grown in Eastern and Central Europe that it ranks fourth in the world in hectares grown. Saperavi produces substantial deep red wines that are suitable for extended aging, perhaps up to fifty years. Saperavi has the potential to produce high alcohol levels and is used extensively for blending with other lesser varieties.
Georgia has five main regions of viniculture, the principal area being Kakheti, which produces seventy percent of Georgia's grapes. Traditionally, Georgian wines carry the name of the source region, district, or village, much like French regional wines such as Bordeaux or Burgundy. As with these French wines, Georgian wines are usually a blend of two or more grapes. For instance, one of the best-known white wines, Tsinandali, is a blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes from the micro regions of Telavi and Kvareli in the Kakheti region.
Georgian wines are traditionally fermented in large clay vessels called kvevris, and left with skins and seeds for an additional three or four months; but certain wines such as the dry, red Mukuzani are aged in oak casks. Georgia produces a number of sweet and semi-sweet wines such as the semi-sweet red Khvahchkara and sweet Kindzmarauli.
Unfortunately, the popular Georgian labels are now the most widely imitated and counterfeited, and reportedly, as much as ninety percent of Georgian wines sold in Russia are bogus. There is virtually no protection for Georgian wine names. As a Russian winemaker remarked to me a few years ago, "If there was so much Georgian wine as is found in shops in Moscow, Georgia would be under a sea of wine." Like wines from other countries of the former Soviet Union, the first rule in buying a Georgian wine is to only buy wines that are produced and bottled in the wine-producing region.
For our Georgian adventure, we selected wines from some of the main reputable producers and those most often found in the supermarkets. By far the best-known Georgian wine label is Tamada, from GWS, which is owned by the French giant Pernod Ricard. GWS started business in the early 1990's by exporting bulk Georgian wine to Holland, where it was bottled and then sent to Russia for sale. Pernod Ricard has now invested in a completely new winery and planted new vineyards.
Telavi Wine Cellars, which sells wine under the Talisman brand, also has a good reputation. An up-and-comer is Shumi, owned by Georgian businessman Timur Lomsadze, who attended our recent Australian wine tasting. In recent years he has acquired extensive vineyards in some of Georgia’s most important viticultural areas. He is also seeking and propagating some of the hundreds of Georgian grape varieties, many which are practically lost.
Another interesting, and relatively new winery is Suliko in Gori, owned by our host for the evening, David Ananiashvili, who for nine years has operated Suliko restaurant on Bolshaya Polyanka, one of the best known Georgian restaurants in Moscow. The wall is adorned with photos of David with the likes of Boris Yeltsin, Harrison Ford, Kofi Annan, and of course his sister, Prima Ballerina Nina Ananiashvili. David was not happy with the wines he was purchasing in Moscow for his restaurant, so he took the bold step to create his own winery.
We began with three dry, white Tsinandali wines, followed this with five dry Mukhuzani wines and then went on to the semi-sweet Khvanchkara, which is made from Mujureturi and Alexsandrovli grapes. These wines all retail between 450 and 700 rubles. The scores (and the wines) were better than I had expected. David provided us with a sampling of his wines in other categories.
The wine tasting was topped off with several wines that sell for more than 3,000 rubles. John and I had found two wines from Khetsuraini Winery (Otskhaniouri Sapare and Oussakhelouri) that are limited to less than a few thousand bottles from small, very selected vineyards. Suliko is the only other producer of Oussakhelouri, and David provided us with one of the eight bottles he had left in the restaurant. He explained that between the two wineries only 3,700 bottles are produced from a 2.4 hectare vineyard. These wines are definitely premium and could hold their own with a Bordeaux. There was a distinct difference between the two that reflects the different approaches of the winemakers.
Personally, as a result of this experience and a visit the week before, I have found the Suliko cuisine to be the best Georgian in Moscow. Suliko makes its own cheeses and other ingredients, which it sells in a neighboring deli together with its wines. We were presented with a fresh selection of traditional foods, topped of with a personal favorite, Chicken in Blackberry Sauce served in a large clay bowl.
The Georgian wine industry is still emerging from the shadows of the Soviet era, though the winds of political change have been gusting there recently. Hopefully, Georgia’s traditional winemaking methods will be preserved and the names protected as in other countries. As fate would have it, this region is both the oldest wine-producing area in the world and at the same time one of the last frontiers of the future of wine. By comparison, French wines are youngsters. When you pour a glass of authentic Georgian wine, you are following a tradition that preceded the French industry by several millennia.
Panel Members
John Ortega, Publisher, Passport MagazineCharles Borden, Director, Meridian CapitalKim Balaschak, Managing Director, Saatchi & SaatchiJim Balaschak, Managing Partner, Deloitte & ToucheEric Boone, Director, Colliers InternationalGeoffrey Cox, Chairman, Astera GroupJohn Harrison, Editor, Passport MagazineDaniel Klein, Partner, Helvig, Klein, UsovSammy Kotwani, Imperial TailoringDan LeVan, AIG

Ortega Easy Rating System

5 pts. I love this wine
4 pts. I really like this wine
3 pts. This wine is good
2 pts. This wine is not that good
1 pt. I don’t really care for this wine

WINES RATED

Tsinandali

Tamada Tsinandali 2000 2.85

Shumi Tsinandali 2002 2.75

Old Kakheti Tsinandali 2003 2.96

Mukhuzani

Tamada Mukhuzani 2000 3.03

Talisman Mukhuzani 3.03

Shumi Mukhuzani 2002 2.71

ACT Mukhuzani 2.43

Suliko Mukhuzani 2002 2.74

Kvanchkara

Tamada Kvanchkara 3.07

Talisman Kvanchkara 2004 2.78

Shumi Kvanchkara 2.71

ACT Kvanchkara 2.57

Suliko Kvanchkara 2002 3.16

Premium Red Wines

Khetsuraini Otskhaniouri Sapare 2002 3.55

Khetsuraini Oussakhelouri 2001 3.43

Suliko Oussakhelouri 2002 3.33

Suliko Saperavi 3.31

© Passport Moscow

Georgian Wineries Look West in Aftermath of Russian Ban

Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli speaks about efforts to reach out to the U.S. and U.K. markets to keep the wine flowing
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: Wednesday, May 31, 2006
The wine industry of Georgia has suddenly found itself mired in a major international political dispute. A recent Russian ban on wines from the former Soviet state has left many Georgian winemakers without customers, and now Georgia's pro-Western prime minister, Zurab Noghaideli, is looking for new allies in the United States and United Kingdom to help kick-start sales.
"The Russian government and the private sector are working together against us," said Noghaideli, who was in London last week, attending a Georgian wine tasting at the city's Vinopolis wine center. "We will overcome this obstacle and we will get to markets that are fair."
On May 1, Russia declared a ban on imports of wine from Georgia and Moldova, after the Kremlin claimed that tests found that wines from those countries contained dangerous levels of pesticides and heavy metals, and were, therefore, unfit for human consumption.
But many of the 17 Georgian producers represented at the London tasting believe that Russia's trade blockade is an attempt to, among other things, reign in the free-market ideals of President Mikhail Saakashvili's government, which came to power in 2004. (Russia also banned imports of Georgia's largest mineral water brand, Borjomi.) Georgia has repeatedly tried to build a larger export market outside of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which comprises 12 former Soviet republics, including Russia. The wines had been very popular there, even prestigious enough to spawn extensive counterfeiting.
One winery representative, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid becoming too politically involved in the "wine war," theorized that the wines tested by Russia's health ministry were probably counterfeit bottlings from other nations that "slap a Georgian label on any rubbish and sell it as wine."
So far, the ban is hitting Georgia's 100-plus wineries hard. The country produces more than 50 million liters of semisweet and dry reds and whites annually, according to the Georgia Department of Statistics, and nearly 90 percent, or $63 million worth, was exported to Russia in 2005.
At Khareba winery, one of Georgia's largest producers, with vineyards east and west of the Caucasus, a spokesman said the producer lost more than 70 percent of its business, practically overnight. "Russia was our main buyer, so it's been pretty difficult," said the spokesman, who asked to be identified only as "George." "That's why it is important to make new connections in the U.K. and U.S."
But the producers face some crucial hurdles in those markets. For one, Georgia cultivates 38 different winegrape varieties, but the best known are unfamiliar to most American drinkers, such as the red variety Saperavi, while the labels are potentially confusing, with hard-to-pronounce names such as Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane (both whites). And these must battle for space on retail shelves and restaurant lists with wines from other countries that are increasing their presence in the U.S. market, such as Argentina, Australia, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa.
But the producers remain optimistic. George, whose winery makes 44 different bottlings, said the sheer diversity of Georgia's wines means that they could offer something attractive for almost any drinker. And Llia Beradze, general director of Shevallier, which also poured at Vinopolis, believes top Georgian wines are high enough in quality to win over Americans. "We know that American tastes are very selective," Beradze said, "and wine will not be a exception."
The other major hurdle to overcoming the Russian ban is geographic, said another producer, who also asked for anonymity. Countries to the south of Georgia are Islamic and won't buy wine or, in the case of Azerbaijan and Iran, won’t allow wine to be transported across their land. The best option, though it's expensive, is to transport wine via the Black Sea, which borders Georgia on the west.
Noghaideli said the added expense would eventually be worth it. "The two biggest export markets for wine are the U.S. and the U.K.," he said, "and we've doubled our sales in America in this year alone." Noghaideli believes his country could sell more than 333,000 cases within the United States in 2006.
"I just hope we can have similar success in the U.K.," he added.

© Wine Spectator

GEORGIAN WINE WAR -- IS HANGOVER MORE POLITICAL THAN ECONOMIC?

By Zaal Anjaparidze
Monday, July 3, 2006
Despite huge losses, Georgian wine merchants continue to suffer the consequences of Moscow’s March 27 ban on imported Georgian wines. Russian authorities claimed to be protecting the Russian consumer market from fake beverages. According to Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s chief health inspector, more than 1.5 million deciliters of alcoholic beverages from Georgia were kept out of the Russian market in April and May. Georgian wine once controlled 9% of the Russian market.Georgian vintners are unanimous in believing that a ban was the most serious economic blow Russia could inflict on the Georgian wine industry. The Georgian Chamber of Trade and Commerce has estimated the losses at $10 million. Before the ban Georgia received approximately $100 million annually from its wine exports.Even if Russia lifts the ban little will flow to Russia soon. Some Georgian analysts predict that only Georgian wine producers supported by Russian capital would be allowed to resume exports to Russia. Experts also warn that Georgian wines would face considerable obstacles to reaching the European market, which they argue cannot replace Russia. “In the Russian market, Georgia’s wines enjoy instant name recognition,” but "there is no name recognition for Georgian wines in Europe," said Kakha Gogolashvili of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili’s harsh comments about Russia since the embargo have evidently set back the return of Georgian wine to Russia. In a televised interview in April, shortly after President Mikheil Saakashvili appointed him chief “wine ambassador,” Okruashvili bluntly spoke about the low-level of sophistication of Russian consumers, saying it was a market where “even fecal masses could be sold.” Okruashvili suggested that Georgia should impose its own ban on imports of Russian beer and other foodstuffs. Georgian Parliamentary Chair Nino Burjanadze made public apologies on Okruashvili’s behalf during a June 4 interview with Vremya novostei but it did not defuse the situation.After the June 13 summit between Saakashvili and Russian President Vladimir Putin (see EDM, June 16), the Russian leader clarified that trade could resume once Georgian wines meet Russian standards. Putin emphasized that allowing Russian investors in Georgian wineries could be one way to ensure the requisite high-quality standards (see EDM, April 20). Putin’s statement again confirms the seriousness of Russia’s efforts to control vital branches of Georgia’s economy.Shortly after the ban was imposed, Russian wine producers began to buy Georgian wineries. Using Georgian production facilities with grapes from their own vineyards should give them an advantage over the local vintners. Levan Koberidze, commercial director of the Georgian Wine and Spirits Company, Georgia’s largest wine producer, said: "We will push toward other markets and expand sales." He admitted, however, “The impact is going to be heavily painful for Georgia’s economy.” The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Georgia has estimated that Russia’s ban on imports of Georgian products will reduce Georgia's GDP growth by less than one percent this year and next, and will contribute to a shortfall in external financing.Georgia is likely to feel the full repercussions of the Russian embargo on wine this fall, during the annual grape harvest. Grapes are Georgia’s second-largest export and 70% of the crop has traditionally been sold in Russia. In Kakheti, Georgia’s leading wine region, 80% of the workforce is involved in the winemaking industry. Local wineries have already slowed or halted production, and the embargo might leave thousands of locals out of work, potentially turning them against Saakashvili’s government. Some wineries are putting on a brave face, saying the government is seeking new markets. The government is trying to find new outlets for the grape harvest. One plan calls for construction of a grape-juice processing plant in Gurjaani (in Kakheti), which would buy 30,000 tons of grapes annually from peasants. The government claims this is the simplest way to cope with Russia's ban on Georgian wines. In 2005, wine factories bought 75,000 tons of grapes from farmers. The grape juice factory could absorb nearly 60% of the export-oriented harvest.“The Russians have cut off our wine market. But in response we are building in Kakheti a grape concentrate factory that will process, according to our calculations, 40% of the grapes. This year we will take on a much wider spectrum of markets, the Ukrainian market, Eastern European markets,” Saakashvili told an audience of business leaders at a charity dinner on May 26, Georgia's Independence Day. The Georgian government has undertaken a vigorous campaign to promote Georgian wine, including an inaugural Georgian wine competition on May 11-12. They also organized a Georgian wine festival in Ukraine and negotiations are underway with international organizations and foreign governments about exporting Georgian wine to new markets. The government has also announced tax breaks and plans to produce more "Europeanized" wines with non-traditional grape varieties.During June 13-15 a delegation of the European Commission discussed wine issues in Tbilisi with Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Chechelashvili. He said that finding new markets for Georgian wine products represents “a fundamental priority in the field of trade.” Chechelashvili said the Georgian government is ready to invest in advertising Georgian wine in Europe. "Very aggressive advertising has been taking place in Ukraine, and I can say that in the first half of the year we sold 25% more wine than last year. These figures are significant, taking into account that Ukraine is the second market for us after Russia," he stated.Reportedly, the Georgian government has hired experienced PR specialists from abroad. However, the promotional campaign has been somewhat unusual. The Georgian government reportedly offered singer-actress Jennifer Lopez $500,000 to visit Tbilisi on Georgian Independence Day and simultaneously advertise Georgian wine. She declined the invitation.During recent trips in Europe, Saakashvili and other officials have actively promoted Georgian wines. The president has dubbed Georgian wine a “liberty beverage,” calling the ban the price Georgia is paying for independence from Russia.(Itar-Tass May 2; Vremya novostei, May 4; Rian.ru, NewsInfo, May 10; Georgia Today, May 11; Regnum, April 20, May 11, 24; Civil Georgia, May 19, June 16; ORT, May 30; Interfax June, 1; Kviris Palitra, June 5; TV-Rustavi-2, June 13; Trend, June 14, SKRIN Market and Corporate News, June 8; Messenger, June 20)

© Eurasia Daily Monitor

Orovela Saperavi 2004 Kakheti, Georgia

Jancis Robinson

Anyone who watched Hugh Johnson’s television series on the history of wine back in the late 1980s will know what a special place Georgia (Black Sea, not the southern American state) occupies. And wine is as important to beleaguered Georgia as the long-lived, wine-swilling Georgians are to wine.

I have never visited Georgia myself (I was rather put off by the fact that a female wine writer friend of mine was half-heartedly kidnapped on arrival in Tbilisi) but I have been monitoring progress in the country’s wines with great interest. Pernod Ricard made a big investment in the 1990s and every now and then there is a generic tasting in London, which I try to attend. The Georgians, who have 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of vineyard – more than any other ex-Soviet country – desperately need to find new export markets since the Putin regime prohibited imports of Georgian wine into Russia last year (see The view from Moscow).

I can honestly say that Orovela Saperavi 2004 Kakheti, Georgia is the best Georgian wine I have ever tasted. It is the brainchild of Giorgi Sulkhanishvili, who was involved with the Pernod Ricard Georgian project. He left them last year to start his own wine label Orovela, made by the Georgian/Australian winemaker Lado Uzunashvili, who has been responsible for some of Paul Mas’s extremely well-made Languedoc wines. He had acquired the vineyard in 2001 and started to rework and replant it straight away.

The grapes are grown in the Chandrebi vineyard on the right bank of the Alalzani River, near the village of Ikalto in Kakheti, the main wine producing region of Georgia. I am assured that this location on the North Caucasus is very picturesque, with an 11th-century monastery to the north and a sixth-century chapel in the middle of the vineyard – but surely all these primeval centuries are just showing off? We’ve got the message: Georgia has a heck of a lot of history.

The wine, however, tastes thoroughly modern in its winemaking – but using highly individual raw materials. I can’t speak personally for the geography of the place, although I’m told the terraced stony alluvial vineyard with a bit of clay underneath is at 520 m above sea level and the climate here is cooler and drier than in most of Kakheti, thanks to the altitude. Most of the 40 ha vineyard is planted with Georgia’s very own red wine grape Saperavi, often made into sweet red wine and piercingly pugnacious in its high tally of phenolics and acidity. Kerpow, it says – or does it do some memorable local dance involving lots of kicking? Five hectares are planted with the white grape Mtsvane.

Much is made of the extent to which the vineyard has been divided into blocks, each monitored and (machine) harvested separately according to its exact ripeness level. In 2004 the grapes were harvested on 25 Sep apparently, with a yield of 45-50 hl/ha. All grapes were de-stalked and the must given a cold soak for 36 hours. Here is the rest of the tech spec (use your online Oxford Companion to Wine to check the jargon): Délestage every third day during nine days’ fermentation. Pressed at 1% residual sugar. 40% of pressings joined free run. Decanted off lees twice. 50% of the blend barrel matured for 12 months in 50% French and 50% American 300-litre oak barrels. Wine is not suitable for Vegetarians or Vegans (fined with egg-whites). Alcohol: 12.5%, Total Acidity: 5.4g/l, Phenolics: 3.55, Residual Sugar: <2g/l.

I think this handsomely packaged wine (in far too heavy a bottle) is worth a whirl by any truly curious wine drinker. Saperavi is undoubtedly a great grape but too often it is vinified to a price, or made so sweet that it is difficult to assess true varietal character. All I can say is that this wine, just 12.5%, drew widespread praises from my household, and it was still good from a re-corked bottle several days after first opening. As far as I can see, it's currently available only in the UK, at either £14.99 from Soho Wine Supply or at £16.99 since yesterday in Waitrose’s top six branches. I think this latter price is a little steep but then it is a one-off. Let us hope that Orovela, imported into the UK by Caves de Pyrene near Guildford who also retail it, is just one of a fleet of fine Georgian wines we can add to our ever-expanding international range of wine experiences.

Although you know what they say: A wine hasn’t really arrived until Georg Riedel has designed a special glass for it.

© Jancis Robinson