Picking Grapes and Making Wine in Kakheti

The vendange was early this year, a result of a long, hot 100 degree summer in Georgia...Last weekend we went down from Tbilisi into the wine country, the Kakheti valley. We visited a traditional Georgian winery where we cut grapes and squished them, observing the traditional Gerogian process for winemaking. Of course we also tried wine and feasted...

Picking


The winemaking process begins...
step two (no pun intended!)

the first fermentation chamber-- 90 days and 270 stirs

...and then it gets put in underground amphorae, each holding the equivalent of one hundred gallons, to be sealed for years...

...until we open it and imbibe!
The largest clay fermenting vessel I have ever seen:

The still that is used to make Chacha (High-test Georgian brandy): yes, they let us try some...
Some locals came to drop off their harvest:

right next to their truck is this huge unused wine-stomping trough. It is made from ONE piece of wood. Wow. Note the old unused amphorae in the background:

A Georgian treat: walnuts on a string, covered in wine reduction, drying on the line:

The farmhouse: