Tamaris Vazi, 2020

My region Samtskhe-Javakheti (Meskheti) was occupied for 4 centuries by Ottomans (Turks). They destroyed wine yards and wine villages, they destroyed all local endemic grape species and today I decided to research, study, identify and multiply oldest Meskhetian vines. … ” I have spent much of the past decade traipsing through mountain forests in search of ancient vines growing the way nature intended — up trees. I have found some vines that are more than 100 years old and one that I reckon is more than 400 years old. I have uncovered 40 rare grape varieties in the forests in the south of the country, near the border with Turkey, but I have only been able to identify 24 of them so far. Each year I make a different wine from these ancient varieties at Natenadze’s Wine Cellar in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region” … ​ In my Region it is first wine making after 16th century. I am foraging the grapes from forest and oldest destroyed villages, mostly grape trees are more than 1-2 hundred years old and the biggest is more the 4 centuries old which is still alive and gives me the grapes for my wine. “So I am making wild wines from wildly growing foraged grapes in volcanic mountaineer region of Meskheti, where everything is wild and natural”, we can say that this is the most natural wine on the planet. The minimum see level is 1000 meter and maximum (for vines) is 1650 meter. My wines are very limited. I produce 500 – 6000 bottles (from different grapes) in a year. When you taste Meskhuri wine, you fill whole Meskhetian history legends and absolutely unique different aromas. Georgia is the first wine making country in the world and Georgian scientist think that birthplace of the Georgina wine is Meskheti Region. Wine Meskhuri is done in qvevri with traditional Georgian methods. Wine is very harmonic and tasty with low alcohol and well balanced acidity, most sommeliers say that is the most elegant and well balanced wine in the world. Meskheti is mountaineer dry continental volcanic region, mostly with basalt stones and limestone soil.