Vineyard Article

The Kondoli vineyards in Kakheti are 300-year-old - 66 years older than the Declaration of Independence. But three centuries are no big deal since this region has been producing wine longer than Greece, Rome, and all their successors. The Caucasus region is the bridge to viticultural traditions dating back to the genesis of wine made with vitis vinifera, the genus and family to which all European grapes belong. In fact, this cradle of winemaking goes so far back that it predates the Bible and even the first written text, the flood myth Gilgamesh, inscribed in clay tablets almost 4000 years ago. Evidence of grape pips found on the southern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains (a swath of land bridging the Caspian and Black Seas) suggest that people began cultivating wine in present day Georgia, Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Levant starting approximately 7000 BC. Located 150 miles north-east of the Ararat Mountains, where Noah was supposed to have landed his ark, the Georgian regions of Kakheti (including sub-regions Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, and Abkhazia are known for making the best wines from approx. 40 grape varieties out of hundreds still unknown in the West. Grown across much of the former USSR the Saperavi grape is appreciated for its very dark color, body and acidity, and usually requires many years of bottle-age to tame; we're guessing that is why they added Merlot to this cuvee.