The visit of Martali Wine, with Owners/ Winemakers Nikoloz Bitskinashvili, Nikheil Bitskinashvili, and Thomas Schubaeus was by far the most personal of all during the Georgia Wine Tour 2019 of Collegium Vini. This was due to the fact that Klaus Schubaeus, President of the Collegium Vini, is the father of Thomas Schubaeus, one of the 3 co-owners of Martali Wine.
Thomas Schubaeus is a career-changer. He grew up in Germany and finished his university studies with a Master Degree in Political Science. At university, he met his future wife, who is from Georgia. Following their graduation, they moved to Georgia, were she joined the Foreign Service and he founded with Nikoloz (son) and Nikheil (father) Bitskinashvili the Martali Wine. The Bitskinashvilis have always made wine but not at a commercial level.
There are basically 3 types of wineries in Georgia: (1) Large negociant-type producers focussing on mass production for the former Soviet Union and other countries; (2) medium-size producers focussing on what is called European-style wines in Georgia or what I would call main-steam premium wines; and (3) niche-producers that focus on high-end qvevri wines. Martali Wine belongs to the third group.
We enjoyed a tour and tasting, followed by dinner in the courtyard of Martali Wine. Nikheil Bitskinashvili prepared tradional shashlik for us.
Annette and I spent a week in Georgia, the small country that used to be part of the Soviet Union, located between the Black See and the Caspian See. The area is considered to be the birthplace of wine. Research indicates that wine has been made in Georgia for 8000 years. There are over 500 indigenous grape varieties in Georgia. Traditionally, wine in Georgia has been made (fermented and aged) in amphoras burried in the ground.
This was a group-tour of the Collegium Vini, an association of wine lovers in the Frankfurt/ Germany area, of which we are members. The tour was organized by GEORGIENREISEN. Co-owner Tea Totogashvili was our guide. The focus of the tour was on culture and wine.
See here for an overview posting: Georgia Wine Tour 2019: Discovering the Birthplace of Wine
Wine in Georgia
Georgia is located in an area that is considered to be the birthplace of wine. Research indicates that wine has been made in Georgia for 8000 years. There are over 500 indigenous grape varieties in Georgia. Traditionally, wine in Georgia has been made (fermented and aged) in amphoras burried deep in the ground.
Georgia is a small, Christian country with a difficult history. In particular, it was part of the Russian Zsar's Empire. During that period the influence of French winemaking and French cuisine was important. More recently, Georgia was part of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet Union period Georgia was the chief provider of wine for the whole country.This was essentially low-cost mass wine shipped in tanks to all regions of the Soviet Union and bottled there. There was no commercial qvevri winemaking during the Soviet Union period. The commercial sector was dominated by huge stainless steel tanks to produce sweet-style wines.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union and various conflicts between Russia and Georgia, the Georgian wine sector has been adjusting to the new market conditions. The production of inexpensive, often sweet-style wines for Russia and other neighboring countries remains important.
At the same time, the amber wine revolution has discovered Georgia and Georgia has become an important player in the natural wine scene, including in New York, Berlin, London etc. But quevri wines account only for 3% of Georgia's wine exports. Still, they account for 100% of the buzz.
Tradionally, both red and white wine have been fermented and aged in quevris, burried in the ground for temperature control purposes. Basically each family in Georgia has a quevri where they make there wine in this ancient method. Typically, quevri wines are no-sulfur wines with natural yeast only. Whole-bunch fermentation is the rule.
While the buzz is about the hard-core qvevri winemaking where the grapes are fermented with their skins, pips and stems and aged for an extensive period in a qvevri, you also find winemakers that combine the traditional Georgian approach with modern approaches like aging in barrels or fermenting in qvevris but without skins, pips and stems. In fact, there is a whole range of quevri winemaking.
Interestingly, not once went a winemaker with us to the vineyard and we did not have one single-vineyard wine in Georgia. In general it seems that vineyard issues are on the backburner in Georgia.
Qvevri Wines – Different Techniques
Wine Trail Travellor, Terry Sullivan
Qvevri are earthen vessels crafted from clay, fired, coated on the inside with beeswax, often coated on the outside with cement and buried in the ground. Sizes range from one liter to thousands of liters. Compared to other winemaking vessels, qvevri are relatively inexpensive. For example, two qvevri craftsmen in Georgia charge about one dollar per liter. An oak barrel is 225 liters and if it is a French oak barrel can cost $1,000 or more. A 225 liter qvevri would cost $225 plus shipping.
Oak barrels are often used from three to five years. Qvevri are often used for hundreds of years. This ability to reuse a qvevri for centuries makes it the most economical vessel for making wine. We have visited winemakers that are still using qvevri crafted two centuries ago. We discovered that there are different winemaking protocols for making qvevri wine.
Some winemakers place whole grape clusters in the qvevri to ferment and age. The more popular practice is to press the grapes in a wood press using your feet. The grape juice and the chacha (skins, seeds and stems) are placed in the qvevri with the juice to ferment and age. Other winemakers use modern destemmer to destem the grapes and place the juice and chacha into the qvevri. Some producers add all the chacha to the qvevri while others add only a percentage of the chacha to the juice in a qvevri. Then there are a few producers that press the grapes and only add the juice to the qvevri.
Fermentation is done with the native yeasts. We asked if there were enough yeast to ferment the juice if only juice were added to a qvevri. The winemakers using this technique said the always had the juice ferment. After fermentation the techniques also vary. Some winemakers rack the wine into another qvevri without the chacha. While other winemakers seal the original qvevri letting the wine on its chacha. They usually let the wine on the chacha for six months. After which they may rack to another qvevri to help with clarification.
There isn’t one protocol that all winemakers making wine in qvevri follow. As a result, the wines will show different colors as well as aromas, tastes and tannins. A white wine made from only the juice in the qvevri will be a yellow color and probably floral and fruity with no tannins. A white wine fermented and aged on its chacha for six months will be an dark gold or amber color, have more intense aromas and tastes and have mild to bold tannins.
Consumers that want a qvevri made wine for a reason such as a white wine with bold tannins, need to know about the producer and the procedures the winemaker followed.
Martali Wine
Thomas Schubaeus: Martali Wine was founded in 2016 by Nikoloz Bitskinashvili, his father Mikheil, and their German friend Thomas Schubaeus with the aim of producing high quality organic wines by adhering to traditional Kakhetian winemaking techniques dating back perhaps several millennia.
The company ́s name is derived from contemplations on the art of winemaking by famous 19th century nobleman, poet and politician Prince Ilia Chavchavadze, the „Father of modern Georgia“.
According to Ilia, a „Martali Wine“ is a wine that is authentic, pure and produced in a traditional fashion. Based in the village of Shashiani, Gurjaani Municipality, Kakheti, our Saperavi grapes are grown on 2,3 hectares in the renowned „Papris Mindori“ microzone in the village of Akhasheni overlooking the Alazani river valley and the snowy peaks of the eastern part of the Greater Caucasus mountain range. At an elevation of 400-500 meters above sea level, this area is characterized by soil made up of loam, gravel, alluvium, a bit of limestone, sandstone, and a hot, dry climate with little to no precipitation during the summer months. Our white grape varieties are grown in Shashiani itself, at about the same elevation and on a similar type of soil.
In our wine cellar (Marani), we are using traditional clay vessels (Kvevri) for the fermentation process, during which there is as little outside intervention as possible. The wine has full skin contact, and either half or all the branches remain in the kvevri. After fermentation, it is pumped out, and the vessels are thoroughly cleaned, before being refilled and sealed until December, when samples are taken for quality control. All our wines remain in the kvevri for at least six months. As of now we have produced 2017 Saperavi (Alc. 12,5%), 2017 Rkatsiteli (Alc. 13,4%), and 2018 Saperavi (Alc. 15,6%), as well as 2018 Mukuzani (Alc. 12,5%). Aside from degustations in our 120 year old Marani we also offer traditional Kakhetian feasts (Supra) in our family home ́s cozy yard or factory building, as well as master classes for bread baking, churchkhela-making, and preparing shashlik. We are looking forward to hosting you in Shashiani!
Bye-bye
Many thanks for a great tour, tasting and shashlik dinner at Martali Wine.
schiller-wine: Related Postings - Georgia Wine Tour 2019: Discovering the Birthplace of Wine (Published and Forthcoming Postings)
Georgia Wine Tour 2019: Discovering the Birthplace of Wine
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