Georgia

Georgia is the homeland of wine that lies beneath the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Archaeological findings show that grape juice was fermented into wine in this area as early as 6,000 years BC. Georgia still has more than 500 indigenous varieties today, and 30 of them are commercially vinified. The traditional container for vinification and maturation in the homeland of wine is not a wooden barrel, but a clay vessel with a volume of 50 to several thousand litres, called qvevri. These are coated and protected with a lime layer and buried in the ground. In the east of the country they are usually stored in the cellars, while in the west they are buried in the ground right outside, in front of the house.