Warning, at the end of this post there is a fun vidéo clip so please read to the end!
On the banks of the Black Sea there is a beautiful country, with high mountains, and a climate that is ideal for growing grape vines: Georgia.
It is quite probable that wine as we know it today was first made in Georgia between 7000 and 9000 years ago. The most interesting thing is that many georgian wineries make wine (red and white) using the same techniques as 6000 years ago, leaving the crushed grapes to ferment (on the skins) in great erthenware amphorae called Kvevris which are buried in the basement of the winery (Marani). Wine can stay in the Kvevris from a few months (in general in winter) to 50 years. In the end the Kvevris are opened and the wine is drawn like water from a well.
This ancient tradition is alive and well in the region of Kakheti at the eastern border with Azerbaijan. For an interesting article on georgian oenology see Wikipedia.
It goes without saying that such a system’s fascination is irresistible, especially for those who practice extreme organic/biodynamic winemaking like italians Cornelissen and Gravner, who adopted the ancestral technique without hesitating.
However, even in the birthplace of winemaking GSM technology has arrived, and the georgian cell operator MAGTI shot its now famous (in Georgia) advertising in an ancient Marani. You can see the ad by clicking on Play.
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I wonder if Josko Gravner fell in love with Kvevris after seeing this ad. After all, one of the actors looks like him remarkably!
(But does the magnetic field of cell phones interfere withthe biodynamics of underground biodynamic fermentation?)
Luk
(translated from italian by Mike Tommasi)