Georgia's 'Cradle of Wine' - the World's First Truly Natural Wine

Georgia, home of qvevri wine, is also the source of a remarkable natural wine, it seems.

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Ancient wine cellar in Kakheti (Photo: JackF/AdobeStock)
Ancient wine cellar in Kakheti (Photo: JackF/AdobeStock)

Researchers in Georgia have found a remarkable phenomenon close to the village of Enolirpa in the west of Kakheti. A unique combination of climate and geology has allowed the regular production of a wine like no other.

Every year a quarter of a hectare of old, ungrafted vines have historically been left unharvested, while the villagers wait for an event that always occurs between September 12 and 20th: a freak hailstorm that arrives at around dawn and never lasts for longer than half an hour.

That brief moment, however, is long enough for the small hailstones to strip the grapes from the vines and break their skins.

This is where the unique geology comes into play. The Enolirpa vineyard is in a peculiar granite bowl whose stony surface prevents the liquid from seeping into the soil. Thus, the battered grapes naturally ferment with their skins in the open air.

The process, according to local expert, Lado Odalodal, can take between two to six weeks, depending on the weather, and the flavour and quality of the wine varies widely. “In rainy years” he explains, volumes can be good, but the wine lacks intensity. “When there is no rain and too much sun, it may all evaporate, leaving only the dry skins”

Local tradition, however, insists that no human intervention is applied until the mayor of the village announces that the wine is ‘ready’.

This is when the villagers all assemble with spoons and small bowls into which they collect the precious liquid which will be drunk at a Spring Festival ceremony outside the church on the first day of April. Using spoons to scoop up the wine is a tricky process, and there have been suggestions that sponges might be a better option. These, however, have been dismissed as being untraditional and ‘manipulative’.

While remarking on the unique nature of the wine, whose flavour is described as ‘distinctive’ and ‘an acquired taste’, the researchers were also struck by the vinous origins of the village name, Enolirpa, which seems to suggest ancient influence from Greece or Rome.

Could this be the real 'cradle of wine'?

 

 

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