DISCOVERING GEORGIA

Georgia’s place is well deserved as the birthplace of winemaking, originating more than 8,000 years ago. With a UNESCO-recognised, clay-vessel vinification method and more than 470 native grape varieties, it’s great that Georgia’s traditional and modern wines are now far more widely available.

I sampled nearly 50 wines imported to Britain from Georgian producers small and large. They divide roughly into two groups: traditional, including amber, wines made by family producers in clay qvevri – hand-made coil pots buried in the ground – and contemporary, ‘European-style’ wines from Georgian grapes made by larger wineries favouring steel tanks and wood barrels that can offer a bridge to less familiar tastes and styles.

Amber nectar

Iago Bitarishvili, one of Georgia’s most celebrated independent winemakers, lives on the land and vinifies his own grapes in qvevri. ‘Our pots provide neutral winemaking vessels in which wines can ferment, breathe and evolve without wood,’ he says. Grapes may be