Wine Under the Kitchen

Well OK, it might not be the kitchen floor every time!

Georgians have been making Qvevri wine in their houses for generations, sometimes in the most basic of conditions and without much technical knowledge; and although conditions might seem far from optimal good wine still comes out of this hole in the ground.

We were a little surprised at the lack of controlled conditions and slightly chaotic setups when we first saw a Georgian home winery. People just get on with day-to-day life on top of the wine for the 4 to 6 months that it spends under their floor and the Qvevri just takes care of the wine.

These clay pots (small and medium-sized ones can be seen below being sold at the side of the road) are covered with a stone lid, sealed, and then often further covered by a layer of sand for extra security. Having only a rudimentary knowledge of wine-making science does not stop Georgian villagers from making good wine. They have plenty of winemaking history and experience is on their side, of which they are rightly very proud.

There are of course many large, high tech wineries in Georgia. Many of these often complement their stainless steel tank rooms with an area of buried Qvevri, but they are probably taking much more care with hygiene than we were seeing in family homes. But is the wine that much better for the extra effort? That would be for wine enthusiasts to judge when they are here in Georgia.

When the time comes the wine is removed from the Qvevri and bottled, a pretty simple process in essence. Nature and the grapes are left to do what they do naturally without much of the modern analysis we are used to in many parts of the winemaking world. Organic grapes, natural yeast, natural malolactic, everything is left almost to chance with very little intervention and the results can often be spectacular.

How exciting would it be to take the first sip of something that has been developing underground for such a long time, unseen and untested? Will the wine be any good? will we make any cash from this? will we enjoy drinking it or have to throw it away?

We have traveled to a number of wine regions in Georgia and have been at several small, family-owned places that have Qvevri set in the floor of the house. We have been offered wine from some of the most humble or rustic setups and generally, it was very drinkable. Thousands of years of practice have really paid off and more and more wine lovers are coming to appreciate the different styles and profiles that Qvevri wine offers.