"Al Jazeera": Wine, Georgia's most popular export, thrives in embargo

by Mansur Mirovalev

27.11.2015. Temori Saalishvili lifts a lid from a round ceramic vat in the concrete floor of his basement. With a wooden pitchfork, he stirs a bubbling, pungent, amber-coloured liquid filled with grape skins, stems and seeds.

After several more days of fermentation, the liquid will turn into young, full-bodied "orange" wine with strong tannins and fruity overtones.

The wine seems to have absorbed the flavours of the landscape around it: walnut and persimmon trees skirting stone houses, a patchwork of sun-kissed fields and lush meadows watered by the snow-covered Greater Caucasus Mountains, and garlands of dry saffron flowers hanging in Saalishvili's kitchen.

Most European wines are made by fermenting grape juice after it has been separated from the grape skins. But traditional Georgian wine, or hvino, is skin-fermented without yeast and chemicals, mostly in containers similar to the one below Saalishvili's basement floor. It is called kvevri - an earthenware vat more than two metres tall that was installed by Saalishvili's grandfather half a century ago and is now a subterranean pillar of the world's oldest viticulture.

CNN: Is Georgia the world’s cradle of wine? [With video]

25.11.2015. (Hvino News). Sumnima Udas, CNN International's Delhi-based correspondent, presented the new CNN video following the Silk Road route.

"Visit Kakheti, Georgia's lush wine-producing region and find out why many believe the country is the world's cradle of wine”, -reports the new CNN video devoted to Georgia's Tbilisi and Kakheti.

Watch the video:

Free Georgian wine tastings in USA

22.11.2015. (Hvino News). Several free Georgian wine tastings will be held in USA (Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia) in November-December. Here are locations and dates:

NOVEMBER 2015

November 22  12:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Whole Foods Market – Georgetown, 2323 Wisconsin Ave N.W.
Washington, DC 20007 ▼Map  
Georgian Wines will include: Teliani Valley's Tsolikouri, Tvishi, Saperavi, Mukuzani, Kindzmarauli.

November 24  4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Whole Foods Market – Georgetown, 2323 Wisconsin Ave N.W.
Washington, DC 20007 ▼Map  
Georgian Wines will include: Teliani Valley's Tsolikouri, Tvishi, Saperavi, Mukuzani, Kindzmarauli.

DECEMBER 2015

December 4  3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Total Wine & More Laurel (Corridor), 3321 Corridor Marketplace
Laurel, MD 20724
We will be tasting the following wines: Teliani Valley's Tsolikouri, Tvishi, Saperavi, Mukuzani, Kindzmarauli, Schuchmann Pirosmani, Schuchmann Mukuzani.

Taste Georgian wine this Thanksgiving in US

22.11.2015. If you are a wine enthusiast currently in the United States, you have a chance to taste Georgian wine for free.

Thanksgiving Georgian wine tastings will take place at four different locations in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia this week.

Free wine tasting will include Teliani Valley's Tsinandali, Tvishi, Saperavi, Kindzmarauli.

"Thanksgiving is approaching and we have excellent Georgian wines that in our opinion pair particularly well with the spirit of Thankgiving and the accompanying dinner table,” said event organisers.

"They represent the best of Georgian grape varietals and the millennia-old Georgian wine culture.”

At Whole Foods Market located in Georgetown ▼Map   the Georgian wine tasting will be held on November 22th at 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm; on November 24th - at 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm.

For full schedule of Georgian wine tastings in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia in November - December click here.

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"Belfast Telegraph": Friends bring taste of Georgian wine to Northern Ireland's top restaurants

by John Mulgrew

17.11.2015. Two young Co Down [County Down is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland - HN] friends are bringing the tastes and smells of the Georgian wine industry to some of Northern Ireland's top restaurants.

Adam McCullough and Simon Bryans, both 22, from Holywood, are now selling some of the Baltic [J yes, that's the way the original Irish newspaper reads - HN] state's top red and white tipples on to top tables, including the now Michelin-starred Deanes Eipic restaurant in Belfast.

The pair have combined both their love of wine, and a gap in the market, to introduce Northern Ireland and the Republic to something entirely new, with their business Harland Wines.

Georgian wine from Teleda winery wins gold in China

16.11.2015 (Hvino News). On November 15-17  China's Guangzhou is hosting the 15th International Wine and Spirits Exhibition - Interwine Guangzhou 2015. 9 Georgian wine companies are taking part: Besini, Askaneli Brothers, Bagrationi 1882, Teliani Valley, Dugladze, Kakhuri Wine Cellar, Khareba, Telavi Wine Cellar, Batono.

Wine contest  Interwine Guangzhou 2015 was held in the framework of the exhibition, at which Georgian wine company by Teleda won the gold award. The winning wine is Teleda Amber Dry 2011. Total 183 wines from 23 countries were submitted to the wine contest.

China(Guangzhou) International Wine & Spirits Exhibition (Interwine) was founded in 2005 and located in Guangzhou, South China. As an international exhibition, Interwine has established close business relationships with wineries from 72 countries. The exhibition facts show that after 10 years development,  Interwine has collected more than 2000 exhibitors and 50000 visitors and covered 50000 square meter exhibiting area totally.

Georgia's wine and tourism agencies briefed journalists on first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism

13.11.2015 (Hvino News) Yesterday in Tbilisi the the heads of the National Tourism Administration and National Wine Agency - Giorgi Chogovadze and Giorgi Samanishvili - held a joint press conference regarding the first Global Conference on Wine Tourism, planned for 2016 in Georgia.

The wine conference will be held under the auspices of United Nations's World Tourism Organization - UNWTO.

As announced last moth at UNWTO event in London, the first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in Georgia’s Kakheti wine region on September 7-9, 2016 (read more here). The activity is part of the UNWTO Gastronomy Network plan of action.

The representatives of Georgia's wine and tourism agencies briefed the journalists at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on the conference project details, and answered the questions.

Georgian wines: an interesting pawn in U.S. geopolitics

11.11.2015 (Hvino News). American wine writer W. Blake Gray covered Georgian wines in his blog's recent post entitled "Georgian wines: an interesting pawn in U.S. geopolitics". The article was based on a Georgian wine tasting conducted recently by Lisa Granik in San Francisco, in the framework of Georgian Wine Month in USA.

The post starts with somewhat ironical mention of the American governmental assistance to Georgian winemaking industry: "Quick quiz: can you name the country whose wines get financial support from the U.S. State Department? If you said the United States of America, nice try. The U.S. government's idea of supporting its own country's wine is to keep the beer & wine distributors who heavily contribute to political campaigns happy. It's not like the European Union, where wine producers get all sorts of government  support. No, the answer is a country that is in Europe, but not in the E.U., and therefore not able to balance its budget with money from Germany. It's Georgia: "the country, not the state," as you have to tell everyone whenever you talk about Georgian wine."

The author further makes assessment of Georgian wine production, pointing out that "Georgia produces 15 million cases a year, which sounds like a lot from a country of 4.5 million people, but it's only about as much as Barefoot Cellars, and it's only about 60% of what it produced in the Soviet era".

Georgian wines by Kakhuri Gvinis Marani win awards at Hong Kong fair

10.11.2015 (Hvino News). The 8th HKTDC Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair, one of the largest fairs of its kind in Asia, was opened on November 5-7 with more than 1,000 exhibitors from 32 countries and regions.

Georgian Saperavi 2011 wine from Kakhuri Gvinis Marani (Kakhetian Wine Cellar) has won two top awards:  Grand Prix in the nomination of Best Regional Wine in Eastern Europe, and the Gold Medal. The Bronze Medal was given to Mukuzani 2011 by the same company.

Other Georgian companies represented at HKTDC include Tbilvino, Winery Khareba, Kakhetian Traditional Winemaking, Badagoni, Georgian Wine House, and Georgian Wines & Spirits Company.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili, to promote Georgian wine on the international market it is essential to take part and win in such high-class international exhibitions.

Historical wine cellar was opened by Prime Minister Garibashvili in Saguramo

09.11.2015 (Hvino News). On November 8, the opening ceremony of the renovated and restored historical marani (wine cellar) of Tadeos Guramishvili took place in village Saguramo, in presence of prime minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili, ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, and the members of the Georgian government.

The historical wine cellar is situated on territory of Ilia Chavchavadze Museum. The officials were attending the Museum on the occasion of Ilia Chavchavadze's anniversary (Prince Ilia Chavchavadze was prominent 19-th century Georgian politician and poet).

The marani project in the village Saguramo, Mtskheta region  ▼Map  , was implemented by wine-producing company Kakhetian Traditional Winemaking. This is a historical monument of the XVIII century, preserving unique Georgian wine-making equipment.

Tourists will be able to visit the historical cellar of Tadeos Guramishvili, and to get acquainted with Georgian culture and taste Georgian wine.

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Jakeli's Saperavi wins Grand Prix in Poland

08.11.2015 (Hvino News). Polish specialized magazine Wino has awarded Georgian wine with prize at Wino's Grand Prix awards (Nagrody Grand Prix Magazynu Wino 2015). 

The winner of a bronze Grand Prix in category "Best red wines" is Jakeli's Khashmi Saperavi Organic 2011.This Georgian wine is imported to Poland by Krako Slow Wines.

Wino is a bi-monthly magazine established in 2002, currently the largest independent wine periodical in Poland.

Jakeli's family vineyard (5.5 ha)  ▼Map  was started in 2001 near the village Khashmi in the Iori valley, Kakheti, at the foothill of the Tsivgombori  mountain range. The vineyard is at 760 meters above sea level. It is managed organically, never irrigated and sprayed maximum 5 times in May-July. No oak barrels are used, and no filtering. Jakeli winery became member of the Biological Farming Association ELKANA in 2004. Since 2009, their production is certified organic according to standard Green Caucasus.

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Georgia's modest achievement at ENOEXPO wine contest in Poland

07.11.2015 (Hvino News). On November 4-6 in Krakow, Poland, 11 Georgian wine companies participated in the international wine fair ENOEXPO 2015: Telavi Wine Cellar, Teliani Valley, Vaziani, Khareba Winery, Askaneli Brothers, Corporation Kindzmarauli, Kakhuri, Besini, Twins Wine Cellar, Chateau Telavi, Tibaneli.

Within the fair a 7th ENOEXPO 2015 Winemaking Competition was held. According to recently announced results, just one Georgian wine is among winners: a silver medal was awarded to Amiran Vepkhvadze's Krakhuna 2013.

In 2014, Georgia won 9 medals at ENOEXPO, including 4 gold medals (see details here). In 2013, Georgia was awarded with 6 medals, including 2 gold (see details here). So, compared to previous years, Georgia's achievements show a sharp decrease.

Poland is an important export market for Georgian wine, according to National Wine Agency. Latest figures showed Georgia exported 1.26 million bottles of wine to Poland during the first 10 months of 2015, a 2% increase from the same period of last year.

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Georgia exports more than 28 million bottles of wine, earns $77.2m

06.11.2015. Georgia has exported 28,101,431 bottles of wine to 42 countries in the first 10 months of 2015, generating $77.2 million USD.

In recent months Georgian wine was gaining popularity and making an impression in strategically important markets such as China, the European Union (EU) and United States (US), said local wine experts.

The Georgian National Wine Agency reported China was one of the most strategically important markets for Georgia, where wine exports had increased by 87 percent. Between January-October 2015 Georgia exported more than 1.8 million bottles of wine to China.

The taste of Georgian wine was also being enjoyed all over the EU:

• Poland – 1,260,870 bottles (two percent increase);
• Latvia – 924,792 bottles (three percent increase);
• Estonia – 389,274 bottles (35 percent increase);
• Germany – 211,236 bottles (14 percent increase);
• The Netherlands – 47,232 bottles (88 percent increase); 
• France – 29,100 bottles (104 percent increase).

Other strategically important markets were:

Georgia to host UNWTO’s 1st Global Conference on Wine Tourism in 2016

05.11.2015 (Hvino News) Wine tourism is set to really take off next year after it was announced that the first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in Georgia’s Kakheti wine region from Sept. 7-9, 2016.

The 1st UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism was officially launched by UNWTO and the Georgian National Tourism Administration on the occasion of the World Travel Market in London. The activity is part of the UNWTO Gastronomy Network plan of action.

The UNWTO and the Georgian National Tourism Administration made the announcement at World Travel Market session. As explained by UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai, who led the presentation with the head of Georgian National Tourism Administration, George Chogovadze, and the Georgian Ambassador to Spain, Zurab Pololikashvili, “Wine tourism represents a growing segment with immense opportunities to diversify demand. In the case of Georgia, this potential is well known as we are very pleased to be holding the first UNWTO Global Conference on Wine Tourism in the country.”