Brews You Can Use: 11/14/2025
It's the birthplace of Joe Stalin, but don't let that fool you: Georgian wine is very good. The Spectator has praised it at least twice in recent years. I drank it twice while in Krakow this week.
I also managed to smuggle a few bottles into the States without using my rectum (particularly advantageous since I had a 9.5 hour flight home). I also sampled a dry red (the name escapes me) was excellent as well.
Quick reference: Georgia sits on the east coast of the Black Sea, adjacent to Turkey. Its history is much like the Slavic peoples, who have struggled mightily over the past 1,000 years to carve out an identity despite the encroachments (often "ravages") of the Germans, the Russians, and the Ottomans. The Georgians have tried to preserve their national identity against the Mongols and the Russians. The Mongols were finally expelled by the Russians in 1829, at which time Georgia passed under the Russian yoke (first the Tsars, then in 1921 to the Soviets when the Red Army marched in), until it threw it off in 1991. Source: The Oxford Dictionary of World History.
The country is heavily Christian . . . Georgian orthodox. Like, over 80%. It was converted by St. Nina, "the equal of the Apostles," in the 300s and was part of the Antioch Patriarch until it gained internal autonomy in the 700s then complete autocephaly around 1053. Source: Kallistos (Timothy) Ware, The Orthodox Church.
Wine is a huge part of the domestic economy of Georgia, where
by ‘domestic’ I mean pertaining to the domus, the house. While there are
many small-production wineries in Georgia, most people at home drink the
wine they have made themselves. Generally, they follow something like the
method uncovered by those archaeologists from 10,000 years ago.
The fermenting grape juice is sealed in beeswax-lined, amphora-like clay
vessels called kvevris (well, that is the name of one common sort of pot),
which are buried in the ground for at least six months. The red is served at
‘ground temperature’, which is just how claret ought to be served. The result
is wine that, to apalette brought up in France, Italy, California and Australia,
is full of unusual minerally tastes and complex aromas.
Roger Kimball
Why Do I Reference Sources?
Well, I don't always, but it's a reminder that TDE has no artificial intelligence. Heck, it scarcely has any intelligence, but what it does have, it acquires honestly.
But it's still a blog. That means I only use respectable sources, but I don't verify and cross-reference to other respectable sources. One source is enough.