Learning about Georgian Wine 🍇…Gaumarjos 🍷გაუმარჯოს!!

Did you know that Georgia is one of the oldest wine regions in the world? The rolling hills and fertile valleys with rich and varied soils – as many as 49 different varieties – and many microclimates have been home to grape cultivation and wine production for at least 8000 years.

Stop.

Read that again…

8.

Thousand.

Years.

Because of this, the traditions of wine in Georgia are considered entwined with and inseparable from the national identity.

Georgia is Wine/Wine is Georgia.

To drink wine in Georgia, it’s helpful to know some words bantered about, so here’s a list of 7 unusual words you’ll hear and see as you drink your way across this tiny but mighty country.

🍇Let’s start at the beginning. Georgian wine is traditionally made in a totally unique way – in an earthenware jug called qvevri. These unusual egg- shaped vessels have been found in archaeological sites throughout the country, proving  they’ve been in use since 6000 BC. The clay amphorae can be large enough for a human to climb into (and in the past, upon their death, people were often buried in these!) and can hold the equivalent of 1000 -1200 liters of wine.

Nearly every family in Georgia makes their own wine – even if it’s just a small amount. To make wine in a qvevri, the grapes 🍇 , seeds (called “pips”), stems, leaves 🍃 and small twigs are crushed (usually by hand – or should I say by foot 🦶!) in a “satsnakheli “(a wine press shown here) which is often made from a hollowed out tree trunk lined with beeswax. 🐝

The jugs, which are buried in the ground up to their rims, are then filled with this magical mucky mess, sealed and left to do what chemical wizardry it is they do for approximately 6 months. At that time, they are checked to see if the wine is ready and if so, bottled and shelved for the family’s use for the year.

In 2013, UNESCO added this fascinating qvevri winemaking process to its “List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. “🏅

🍇Tamada. Toastmaster. An important part of any event that involves drinking, the tamada proposes a toast before each drink – and the first toast must be to God. Then the next is usually to Georgia. To health. To Country. To love. To Georgia (again). To life, to death, to Georgia, to marriage, to birth…

For a large gathering like a wedding, a tamada may be hired, and he will study before the event to learn who’s who, who’s related to who, the events leading up to the celebration and so on.

These are a few representations of tamadas seen about town  – the tiny one is an ancient carving  from the collection in the super interesting Wine Museum in Tbilisi.

🍇And what does one say in response to these toasts? The celebrants toasting will answer the tamada with “Gaumarjos!”

As the night – and the toasts – go on, it becomes “Gaumar-Jos, Gaumar-Jos Jos Jos JOS!!!” loudly, heartily, and happily. 🍷🍷🍷

🍇Khantsi : In Georgia, celebrants don’t just raise their glass 🍷for a toast. Nope. Instead, a goat’s or ram’s horn brimming with wine can be lifted. Called a khantsi, this vessel is a traditional feature of the formal dinner feast known as a Supra. Adorned with a silver  band engraved with grape 🍇 leaves, vines and such and a chain, the horn’s presentation encourages users to display it on their wall, or—in an earlier era—hang it from their sword belts. Click here for a quick video – for the sake of research for this post (of course!) I am drinking from the host’s khantsi – a 40 year old wedding gift I was honored to use. 💙

🍇Marani – In the countryside, where most families still grow their own grapes and make their own wines, homes typically have a dedicated wine cellar, called a marani. Many homes were built by digging the marani first, then building the house above it. Even in Georgia’s cities, urbanites often cultivate their own vines.

Here’s our proud hosts at Cottage and Gigo Papa’s Wine Cellar guesthouse in the wine region of Kahketi showing us their marani and the tools to maintain it – like the pole with slices of dried cherry bark used to clean the qvevri (cherry bark is a natural antiseptic).

🍇Glint wine – also known as mulled wine, glühwein, vino caliente, glögg, vin brulé, bisschopswijn, vin chaud, candola, vinho quente…you get it. It’s hot wine with cinnamon, cloves, orange, star anise, cardamom and can be found in many of the tiny wine shops and bars along the streets.

🍇Chacha– Chacha is a potent (ok – “potent” is a nice word for STRONG!! as this firewater comes in at 40-60-% proof) Georgian hard liquor – a by-product of the winemaking process. It’s made from “pomace”— after the wine has been removed, the skins, stems, and seeds (pips) that are left after the juice has been pressed is the “pomace”.  This residue is collected and distilled in a copper contraption, where it condenses in the lid… and drip by potent drip, it becomes Chacha. Each family will have mismatched soda bottles full of Chacha lining the shelves in their marani.

Although qvevri wines are what Georgia is famous for, the “European” method of wine is also used everywhere and oak or stainless steel  barrels hold large quantities of wine.

With over 500 grape varieties, you’re sure to find a favorite wine – whether it’s the easily quaffable Saperavi dry red, the smooth Mukuzani red (my fave!), the beautiful amber Rkatsiteli, a semi-sweet red Kindzmarauli or the light and lovely Tsitska white I’d love to know what your favorite will be! 

With prices for a very drinkable wine starting as low as 15 GEL a bottle, (that’s around $4.50 USD/4.20 €) you can’t go wrong. 😘

Gaumarjos!! 🍷‏

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See you there! 😉

 

Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.” — Benjamin Franklin

 

“Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil.” — Lord Byron