Georgian Qvevri (pitcher) made wine is a must to taste during your travels to Georgia,Kakheti region is the most famous for its variation of grape types and wine production. Here everyone has their own wine. It can be an ordinary family, small wine cellars or big wine companies.
Georgians followed ancient Greek pottery culture and found a new use of Large-sized pottery and started winemaking in lemon/egg-shaped pots which were buried in the ground, hence winemaking in Qvevri was developed in Georgia.
Georgian Traditional Qveveri is a unique and oldest wine vessel. During archaeological expeditions old pottery has been found all around Georgia, oldest one of which dates back to VIII c B.C . Many of those are connected to wine culture. Oldest Qvevri was found 50km away from the capital Tbilisi, in old villages called cut hill and Shulaveris hill. The precipitation found in proves that people living in Georgia started wine making 8 000 years B.C
In 2013 the traditional way of wine making in Qvevri was included in the intangible world heritage list.
Qvevri has a following structure:
Head- This is the part of the Qvevri which is left above the ground and is closed with a lid.
Mouth- This is the part which stays until its
Throat- upper part where the form is thinned
Belly- Middle part, where it gets more rounded.
Bottom - bottom part.
Heel -The lowest part which plays as support , it mainly is 10-15 dm diameter.
The Qvevri making process takes approximately 3 month so Qvevri makers start making several Qvevri at the same time. There are several steps in the process of the Qvevri making.
1- Mixing clay and sand with alluvial sand (5:1 ratio)
2- Add water and stir until the required quality plasticity is achieved
3- Build a Qvevri into layers (15-20 cm wide by one layer) in open-type sheds in spring and autumn.
4- Dry the freshly made pitcher in air for three days
5- Bake the pitcher for 6 days, raise the temperature to the maximum for two days, burn 1000 grad Celsius for two days and lower the temperature to 100 c for another two days.
6 - Wax treatment of the inner walls of the Qvevri at 50-70 degrees. 1.5 -2 liters of beeswax per 1000 litre Qvevri
Qvevri making nowadays is spread in few regions like Kakheti, Guria and Imereti.
Qvevri making has been popular in village Vardisubani in Telavi municipality, Kakheti region, this is a village where people still follow qvevri making and is well known for being massive with huge capacity. Now they make 2-2.5 tons capacity Qveries but according to locals in the past they used to make even bigger ones. In villages of Shilda and Sabuebi people make 6-8 thousand capacity Qvevries.
Few villages in the Imereti region also make Qvevri but compared to Kakheti they make smaller ones, although it's still possible to make 2-2.5 ton capacity Qvevri too. The reason for making small Qvevries could be the fact that Imereti, unlike Kakheti, is smaller land and has a small amount of vineyards, hence the amount of grapes and wine is less.
In general, the capacity of Qvevri in Georgia ranged from 2-3 liters to 6-8 thousand liters. However, It is suggested that giant pitchers were made in Georgia in ancient times, with a volume of more than 15,000 liters.
When you're interested to buy online Georgian red and white wines, please visit webpage of GEMI UG and buy online delcious Georgia wines,
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