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| Gio Babunidze and Olaf Malver. Photo: Danieli. |
Today Hvino News continues to publish its series of exclusive interviews with leaders of Georgia’s winemaking industry. Our guest today is Mr. Olaf Malver, owner of Danieli Winery. He kindly agreed to answer our questions.
We suggest starting the interview with a brief business outline. Can you tell us several facts about your company today?
Danieli Winery Ltd. is a new wine producer located in Western Kakheti, Eastern Georgia. We started 5 years ago and our first vintages are from 2013.
Our main focus is to grow and market our own varieties and we at this point only produce Georgian varietals using modern European fermentation methodology, i.e. process controlled stainless steel fermentation and maturation in oak. Our estate is about 30 hectares of old and new vineyards around the village of Argokhi ▼Map , and we produce wines from Kisi, Saperavi, Rkatsiteli, and Mtsvane varieties. Our pride is our Kisi vineyards - the Argokhi location is recognized to be the best terroir in Georgia for growing this upcoming white wine grape and we own 65% of all Kisi vineyards in that Kisi terroir.
So far, the quality of our wines has been very well received, both here and abroad. We already export to Scandinavia, the US and the Far East. Our aim is to grow slowly and sustainably - while keeping a superior quality and develop long lasting relationships with our staff, industry colleagues in Georgia and sales channels here and abroad. At this point, we make 30 - 40.000 bottles/year and we aim to grow to a production ceiling of 100.000 - 140.000 bottles/year.
What made you enter into the world of wine?
What made me enter the wonderful world of wines originally was my Danish father’s great wine collection - he was a great Bordeaux admirer. We kids at home got the chance to sip a lot of the good stuff and hear the grown-ups speak about a red being “broad-shouldered” and white “a whispering angel”!
My own professional background as it relates to wine is being a former
professor in organic chemistry and enzymology at the University of California
in San Francisco and I also have a chemical engineering degree from the
Copenhagen Technical University. This
academic background truly helps me having great wine development conversations
with our fantastic local wine maker Gio Babunidze, a true wine wizard with a
Master’s degree in winemaking and a wine exporter’s background in Georgia. He is also educated in the German wine sector, which is good: in Germany you for sure learn to work cleanly! I see that cleanliness and discipline in our
own wine making every day.
Well, also having lived in the Bay Area in California for more than 20
years, you cannot help being stimulated by the success and enthusiasm in the
local wine regions of Napa and Sonoma.
Furthermore, we had a private crush pad at our home in Berkeley.
So when we moved to Georgia (Eka, my wife, is from Tusheti) what was more
natural than to make a serious investment and commitment in something we
love? I saw and still see an enormous
potential not only for Danieli Winery but also for Georgia as a whole to become
a serious player in producing excellent wines for the world’s discerning wine
enthusiasts!
We are not interested in becoming the leader of the Georgian wine
industry per se. We are
interested in being part of a growing Georgian high-end quality production
sector. We cannot do this alone - in
the start we can be a small top quality garagiste producer (which are
many in the world) and only with similar others build the Georgian Brand over
the years. This should be based on
Georgia’s rich wine history and the great varietals that grow on Georgian soil.
Are you
creator of your brand and beautiful logo?
The name Danieli came from my Georgian Orthodox priest’s desire to give
me an appropriate baptismal name - so why not “The Guy from Denmark”! It corresponds to my nationality and now is
the name of our brand. Danieli is also a Georgian saint’s name - although that
is not me! And when you look at our
heraldic log, you will see the Danish and Georgian flag crosses leaning close
to each other on a bed of golden grape leaves. That depicts my wife and I
joining forces in what we love to do.
By the way, Danieli is also that very high-end posh hotel in Venice. We
love it and it imbues where we want Danieli Winery to be in 10 years - as a top
quality wine producing wine brand, enjoyed by few discerning wine lovers! We want to compete on quality and not price.
What’s your
typical day like? What are your current priorities, concerns, worries?
A budding winery owner in Georgia does not have a “typical” day - the
shots come from all directions and it is a multi-task job on all fronts. But still a lot of fun!
Since we have from early on defined our company values in agreement with
our staff, it is easier to make our day-to-day decisions. Our firmly rooted
values are: excellence, profitability, and integrity. We want to ultimately only produce excellent grapes and wines,
hire only excellent staff and only seek excellent partners in our business
conduct. Profitability should be with a
long-term perspective and our belief in integrity is rooted in all our
processes - from the way our grapes are grown to how we conduct business and
operations. With those values firmly
entrenched in all what we do we will be successful, I believe.
My biggest concern is that we as players in the Georgian wine sector do
not pull in the same direction. I have
seen in the California wine sectors as enormous success, where producers,
governmental sectors as well as academia are pulled together in the same
direction. We must do that too, always
keeping the quality of the Georgian varietals as the main guiding beacon.
Unfortunately, now there is a division in Georgia of how we should
present our wines to the world and become a serious wine exporter. And that is
destructive for the future of a serious Georgian wine market penetration on the
very competitive international markets. I am not alone in this belief - many
serious wine experts agree with me. We are dividing our Georgian wine products
up in how the wines are made (qvevri versus stainless steel, for
instance). At this point of time when we are making such quality-dispersed
wines, we should rather focus on improving our very special varietals, which
is an expression of what Georgian soil is. This varietal improvement focus
should be both in the vineyards and in the production. We should not use the production methodology
sales arguments in our Georgian wine promotion.
The outside markets ultimately want wine that tastes good according to
their pallets and we need to produce such good wine. Not because it is made in a clay jar, a former communist cement
tank, or a shiny Italian stainless steel container. Right now, Danieli Winery is not producing qvevri wines
because we are not good at that right now.
Perhaps we will in the future but only if it will be of excellent
quality.
An insight
into future – what are your goals, strong points of your business, and possible
threats to it?
I am an eternal optimist - and a long-term optimist at that. For sure, in a business and socio-economic
and political climate such as in Georgia, it will not be an easy process, but
hard work, sticking to your values and a grain of luck will be enough for
success.
Our strength is that we are long-term value driven, believe in the
Georgian varietals and conduct our business in a professional international
manner.
If you wish
to send a personal message to global professional wine community, the floor is
yours!
I want to tell the global wine community - we are coming! We have
fantastic varietals and are in the process of making great strides in our
vineyards and wine cellars. And come to
Georgia, select some great wines and drink them in some of the most beautiful
scenery on the planet. And come by and
taste some Danieli if you get a chance!
Thank you very much, Mr. Malver.
© Hvino News.
© Hvino News.
To read other Hvino's interviews with representatives of Georgia’s winemaking industry, see (1), (2), (3), (4), (5).
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