Second Entry on Saturday's Wine Tour

After we left Chateau Mukhrani, we headed to the small village of Chardakhi.  Here is where we found Iago Bitarishvili and learned about his wine.  We went from a huge production to minimal.  Iago's vineyard is all of two hectares (about five acres)! It is tiny in comparison with most commercial vineyards but most likely there are many family vineyards of comparable size.  Iago doesn't want more and doesn't want expansion.  His wine is now famous both in Georgia and around the world because there are limited quantities produced each year.  He doesn't buy grapes from other fields so there is no set amount produced each year.  It all comes down to that year's harvest.

Iago learned his trade from his father and grandfather.  Some of his vines are fifty years old; he is starting new ones too, but only to replace the old ones.    His wine is also 100% organic and he uses the old qvevri (a huge pottery vessel placed below ground shaped somewhat like an inverted teardrop) for the fermentation stage.  The grapes and juice are placed into these after pressing.  All the skins are left with the juice too.  As he explained to us, the grape skins start out on top and as the fermentation process evolves they drop to the bottom of the qveri.

Here is Iago in the room with qveri as he describes his winemaking process. The walls are covered with testimonials from visitors around the world.

 

The qvevri are big enough so that, between fermentation of grapes each year, he climbs right down into them to clean them out.  The are big and deep.

 

The wine is a beautiful color and has a completely different taste from any other Georgian wine we have ever tasted. 

Below is our tasting table with a lovely traditional tablecloth using a traditional design.  We were supplied with dried bread, walnuts, and cheese.

 

Below are Lasha, Luisa's husband, and Vasso, her nephew, who enjoyed coming along on excursions with his aunt and uncle.

 

Iago and Lasha discussing winemaking.  Lasha and Luisa would like to have a similar operation themselves and are looking for a suitable location.  Lasha has the knowledge and skills to create the wine after 10 years of study and work in the industry in Germany.

 

We asked Iago if he wanted a larger vineyard and he said absolutely not.  Bigger would mean more people and the process would be less personal.  

 

Above is a table set for a Supra and wine tasting.  One can do just a tasting or incorporate the tasting with a full dinner.

Below is the resident cat.  This old man had one ear no longer able to stand up; he couldn't purr without bending his neck, but he loved all the attention.

 

After the tasting we headed back from this village into Tbilisi.  We had experienced two radically different wine productions and enjoyed both very much.  We had time with family and also got to be outside the city for a bit.  Tbilisi is a wonderful city, a visual banquet.  Outside the city, life is quite different; herds of sheep are brought down from their summer mountain pastures, and the mountains appear to be within the reach of one's arm: snow covered, rugged, and beautiful.