WinExpo Georgia

Retailers missing a trick? Qvevri wine grabs you!

While we were in Georgia we managed to get invites to the 2019 WinExpo and Georgian wine awards ceremony. We made sure we took full advantage to taste and learn. The majority of Georgian wine is mass-produced by what is termed here “European style” i.e. in stainless steel with some being oaked. But in certain spheres, there is a growing appreciation of Qvevri wine. Qvevri can be spelled Kvevri but the Q looks like the vessel itself!

Tim Atkin MW (pictured with Gary below) has been attending as head judge of the wine competition for 5 years now and obviously knows his Qvevri wine. If you drink wine with any enthusiasm you will notice how different Qvevri wine is.

I saw an example of this when some friends visited us in Georgia and they asked me to choose the wine. I asked if they knew what Qvevri wine was? they didn’t and they hadn’t tried it. So we ordered a white (Mtsvane) and a red (Saperavi) and I loved the surprise when they saw the color of the white and experienced the first smell and taste of the red.

Georgia should, and to paraphrase Tim Atkin MW in his speech at the awards ceremony, “use less oak, and pay even more attention to Qvevri hygiene”. In this way, Georgia would produce even higher quality Qvevri wine and position itself better in premium markets. When wine lovers get a taste of this style they will surely want much more.

I was in the UK late last year and asked in several wine merchants for wines from Georgia, Armenia or Turkey and got some blank expressions (Hello, it is where wine was born!).

After several attempts, I found one relatively expensive bottle from the excellent Zorah winery in Armenia at a boutique wine shop in Birmingham, but nothing from Georgia nor Turkey.

I know you can order online via specialist retailers and that a couple of supermarkets may have a couple of bottles, but you can’t walk into Majestic, browse several and buy one. It’s much farther and damaging from South America or Australia than the Caucasus region to get to a wine merchant in the UK!

I am not in the retail business and may be missing a point here (maybe several) but surely its worth Georgian wineries pushing more to the UK market, and UK wine stores stocking it and making a feature of it to get the attention of wine drinkers. Regardless of any logistic costs, politics or supply chain problems, I am sure deals could be struck.

When you drink Qvevri wine you are drinking 8000 years of history, and a thing of raw beauty. Pure terroir expressed with limited human or chemical influence.

You can’t tell me that if you had a themed tasting from the “Birthplace of Wine” in your wine store, showcasing Turkish native grapes with names that mean “Bulls Eye” and “Throat Grabber”, Georgian wine that had been left in an underground clay pot for 6 months, and Armenian wine from the shadow of Mount Ararat that it wouldn’t get peoples attention?

For me UK wine retail is missing a marketing tool, and some great wine!