NewsFile | Georgian Winemaker embraces Terracotta Roots

NPR aired a story recently (in their lush feature news style) about vintners in Georgia who have embraced an ancient form of winemaking that involves massive terracotta pots coated in beeswax. We were drawn to this because if one placed the pots in a contemporary sculpture park who would doubt for a minute that this was not a substantial, aesthetically compelling work of art? It is said that the devil is in the details, art suggests that demons actually reside in context.

Above image: A man standing next to a qvevri pot in Kakheti, Georgia. The photograph is from the 1800s. Courtesy of NPR.

Now a return to reality: Iago Bitarishvili demonstrated the technique of making wine in a qvevri, the name of the type of vessel he uses. The practice goes back 8,000 years, but was halted under Soviet rule, which introduced a more uniform, industrial style of wine production. The qvervi has been experiencing a renaissance over the last decade.

Reporter Daniella Cheslow states:

“Bitarishvili says making white wine in qvevri imparts a unique flavor. He pours organic white Chinuri grapes, skins and stems into the qvevri in October each year, lets them ferment with natural yeast for two weeks, and then seals the qvevri and leaves them buried underground for six months before lifting the lids in April. Finally, Bitarishvili transfers the wine to a smaller set of qvevri for a further half year of aging before bottling. There are no barrels, tanks or gauges — just the grapes and the qvevri.”

Part of the method’s rebirth could be linked to a ban on Georgian wine by Vladimir Putin in 2006. Putin argued that the wine industry in Georgia was responsible for health violations, but some within the country saw the ban as punishment for the Georgia drawing too close to the West.

There was an auspicious outcome, though. The wine market in Georgia declined, but then bounced back as vintners such as Bitarishvili started marketing to clients across the planet.

You can read the full story here.

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