Ancient Qvevri

Archeologist Mindia Jalabadze shows Jeremy Neolithic era qvevri.

Zaliko Molding Clay

Harvest Punchdown

The late night harvest punchdown of the fermenting wine juice in Ramaz's cellar.

Ancient Vines

Giorgi Natenadze's 400 year old grape vine. (More like a tree).

Wine Cellar during Harvest

Niki Antadze, Kakhetian Winemaker

Building a Winery

JQ Helps Build

Niki's New Winery

The Biggest Hammer

Looking Over Manavi (Kakheti)

Giorgi Barisashvili's Wine Writing

Writing with Saperavi

Giorgi Barisashvili is a professor of wine, and helps consult with over 100 Georgian winemakers. When he writes a book on wine, he uses the "ink" of his saperavi wine.

Writing with Wine

Racha Begins to Ripen

Winemaker Mariam Iosebidze

Jeremy and Mariam look out over Racha. This past year was her first vintage, and she hopes to return to her ancestor's land in Racha to help revitalize the region using non-interventionalist practices.

Vardzia Caves

in the region of Meskheti

Exploring the Vardzia Caves

Entering an ancient qvevri room

Jeremy explores one of the dark caves at Vardzia where they kept qvevri, and aged wine.

Ancient Clay Vessel

A piece of a qvevri found at Vardzia Caves.

Stained Red

A vessel stained red from wine in the Vardzia caves.

Clay Still In Tact

The bottom of the qvevri from thousands of years ago is still in tact, and one is stained red from a red wine.

Giorgi's Glass Dream

Giorgi Natenadze is helping to return Meskheti to its strong history of being known for wine. He dreams of creating a glass bridge to connect a castle to the mountain across.

Ancient Terraces & Artifacts

Giorgi and Jeremy explore the ancient unprotected artifacts.

Bees Bees Bees

When bees like a location, it means the native yeasts are good for winemaking!

Lovers & 3 Men

Studies have shown this used to be a fresh water lake, and the bottom of the sea was heavily populated before the great flood.

Zurab's Marani

Zurab shakes out a few glasses to let us taste a special bottle.

Zurab's Vines in July

We came back to meet with Zurab for a second time to see the changes in his vineyard after a month.

The Wall to the Caves

@ The Black Sea

Three men relax of the large stoned beach.

Jeremy + Tbilisi

The World's Oldest Wine Vessels

These qvevri found in Georgia date back to 6,000BC. (Taken by our newest team member, Johnny Kvezereli).

An Archeological Excavation

Mindia Jalabadze, head archeologist at the site where ancient qvevris were found.

Layers of Human Existence

They excavated down until they reached "virgin earth" where no humans were found living on that soil.

Early Mud-Brick Tower

Shulaveri Archeological Dig

Herds at the Excavation

The excavation is in plain site in the middle of an open field. When the archeologists begin a dig, villagers come and dig for gold at night, which becomes a real problem for the archeologists.

Jeremy & Mindia

Shulaveri archeological site.

Bronze Age Tools & Weapons

Tbilisi at Dusk

Mother Georgia

A sword in one hand, and a goblet of wine in the other. She protects the city of Tbilisi.

Jeremy & Tbilisi

A walk to visit Mother Georgia.

Iago's winery at Dusk

The Village of Chardakhi.

Ramaz's Wild Vines

Ramaz's Vineyard in Imereti.

Our hostel's street in Kutaisi

Kutaisi, the former capital, now seems a bit sad. Beautiful architecture surrounded by what feels to be a ghost town.

6 Days & Nights of Flame

Behind the rows of qvevri is the kiln room where all the qvevris are fired. The wood behind is used for the non-stop fire that lasts 6 days & nights.

Zaliko, The Qvevri-maker

The world famous qvevri maker. His qvevris are on a 3 year waiting list.

The Bottom of the Qvevri

In Zaliko's workshop filled with qvevri.

Resting on Bricks

As the qvevris are resting, they are only held up by a few small bricks.

Zaliko's Workshop

Qvevri after qvevri. An amazing place to be.

Ramaz Inspecting Zaliko's Work

If you finish the entire bowl of wine, you can keep the bowl.

Zaliko's Place

Right off the highway in Imereti.

A Supra at Gaioz's

We tagged along with a group of Japanese importers as they visited different wineries in Imereti.

Yasuko and Gaioz

In the cellar at Gaioz's.

Roadside Mushroom Stop

It's always important to pull over for the best mushrooms in the region.

Terry's Dedication to Marani

The outdoor marani (winery) where Gaioz ferments his wines. There is no roof. If there is rain during harvest, it's quite a mess.

Supra at Makaridze Brothers

Lunch Supra @ Makaridze Bros

Andro and Jeremy

Andro walking Jeremy through his vines in Guria.

Gurian Bazaar

A busy Sunday market.

Zurab's at dusk

It started to rain, but the light was perfect. I slid down a muddy hill, losing my shoes on the way in order to get this shot.

Like Father Like Son

The next winemaker of Guria...

Family Songs

The song which made Zurab fall in love with Tamuna many years ago.

Supra in Dvabzu

Naziko's Guest house was a blast. We walked into a supra of 20 men, feasted with them, and got some beautiful moments of the tamada!

Andro's Nursery

Andro teaching Jeremy about the 16 native varietals to Guria that he helps preserve.

Jeremy's Afternoon studies

Taking note of our journey, and planning for what's to come...

In Zurab's Terraces

Jeremy and Zurab Topuridze sit amongst his terraces and discuss his winemaking practice and what inspired him to grow wine.

Zurab's Place

Playing soccer with Ioane.

Tbilisi at Night

Yes, indeed, this was the by-product of a spa night at the Radisson Blu. The perks of shooting on the iPhone6.

Ioane giving Jeremy lessons

Ioane helped us with our Georgian.

At the Bazaar

The Sunday bazaar in Guria.

Zurab's Terraces

In the region of Guria.

Guria's Sunday Market

All the small surrounding villages come to the Bazarze (market) in Chokhatauri every Sunday.

Tasting

Jeremy's first taste of the wine he and Nika made last year.

Reviving an Old Style

A lovely rosé that hasn't been made in decades.

Bottling at Nika's

Bottling in Atenuri with Nika's new vintage.

Horseback in Sighnaghi

An evening ride in Sighnaghi.

Horses at Dusk

Winery

A Georgian winery, with clay amphora pots buried underground for fermentation.

Vines

Jeremy's picture from Spring 2014.

Vertical Tasting

A Vertical Tasting of Ramaz's wines at Vino Underground in Tbilisi.

Visiting Monasteries

Signaghi

Visiting Monasteries