October 1st marks the beginning of one of the most important months in the Republic of Georgia. In Georgian, October is Ghvinobistve which means “month of wine.” It’s during this month that harvest is at its height, and the countryside is full of people picking grapes and enjoying the meals and parties that go along with harvest.  The harvest festival is called Rtveli which is a traditional harvest festival with all the works; feasts (supra), music and dance.  October is a month of celebration and this year the festivities commence with Georgian Wine Day on October 4th, 2015. The events in the Republic of Georgia are organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Wine Agency and will include events throughout the country and in Tbilisi.

If you aren’t in Georgia, you can still take part on Sunday.  Open those special bottle of Georgian wine you’ve been saving for a special occasion and lets us know about it via social media with the tag #GeorgianWineDay. I will be using Storify to save and share posts with this hashtag.

If you aren’t convinced that October 4th is a special enough day to open those bottles you are hoarding, remember that we are celebrating the birthplace of wine, more than 8000 vintages and a continuation of the oldest wine culture in the world.  I think its worth a bottle or two to pay homage to Georgia and our beloved ghvino.

Remember wine is a celebration of life, its a connection of people, to history and above all to the earth.

Gaurmajos!

Vendor at the market in Tbilisi who sells decent adjika paste. Whenever friends ask me why I fell in love with Georgia, my natural and unscripted response is, “It felt like coming home.” I am not Georgian, I don’t have any familial ties to the country and I don’t speak the language but I still find so many aspects of Georgian culture vaguely familiar to me. This love affair started the first morning of my first trip to Georgia in March 2014. I organized a visit to the Market in Tbilisi, and I was hooked. Of course I had never eaten a churchkela or pickled flowers before, but I sensed an immediate connection that’s brought me back six times in the past year. It may seem like an odd fit. I am a southern California girl who lives in the Roman countryside. I had no personal interest in Georgia beyond its wine before I visited. Most of my fellow Georgiaphiles came to Georgia in some round about way through Russia.

Maybe they had an interest in the Russian empire, the Russian language or the Soviet Union. I certainly don’t speak Russian and never studied anything about the Russian Empire or the USSR except what was required in my humanities classes. I came for the wine initially, but the flavors and personalities of the Georgian table brought me to a familiar place of aromas, textures and spices.

As a San Diegan, I grew up in the Cold War 70s and 80s on a pretty typical Anglo Saxon diet of processed food made by my Australian mom. We had diversity, but it came from a seasoning packets. I don’t have a romantic food story. I grew up working class and my parents worked 14 to 16 hours a day. Fast food and packaged food were normal and convenient for my working mom. I was the typical latch key kid of the 80s. I made boxed mac & cheese for myself. Though we did have a typical American diet of processed food, it was supplemented by fresh garden vegetables (from my dad), tropical fruit (my mom’s homage to her tropical homeland), copious amounts of Mexican food at friends’ homes and midnight taco runs or casual dining in Old Town. San Diego is not a WASP enclave. It’s a border city and the food scene reflects that. For me, this meant at a young age I was already quite familiar with the difference between salsa verde and salsa fresca, I knew the taste of fresh cilantro, the texture of corn husks for tamales and the mouth feel of coarsely ground corn meal. I could identify many different types of red, green, yellow and orange hot peppers and knew their hotness scale. It was a combination of textures and ingredients that were vaguely familiar to me in Georgia. Mexican and Georgian cuisines are diverse and vary according to region and seasonality. Both rely heavily on aromatic herbs and spices, beans, corn meal, and spicy and sour sauces to compliment the meals.

When I was a kid I felt different than most of my classmates- my parents were foreigners with weird accents and I ate strange food (hello Vegemite sandwiches), so I always seemed to seek out the other odd kids. Those of us with funny parents always seemed to find each other. In first grade my best friend was Rosa, a first generation girl whose parents were from Mexico. In 5th grade my best friend was Lorelei whose mom was from Belgium. We were the ones with the funny lunches. We sat together. These relationships inevitably exposed me to a new world of flavors and textures I would have never had otherwise. Pico de Gallo is often refereed as a fresh salsa, but in some parts of Mexico it refers to a fruit salad with dried hot chilies, lime juice, aromatic herbs and salt. I first had dried pico de gallo rub at my friend Rosa’s house. I often ended up at her house after school, which meant I tasted the deliciously exotic-to-me food her mom gave us. Cold papaya with a squeeze of lime sprinkled with dry pico de gallo… an explosion of heat and flavors. First cool fruit, then the red pepper would hit the front and back of the tongue and the heart would start to race, then this was followed by sour and salty sweetness from the juicy fruit. To this day, I prefer a fruit salad with salt and chili peppers.

When I was a kid I felt different than most of my classmates- my parents were foreigners with weird accents and I ate strange food (hello Vegemite sandwiches), so I always seemed to seek out the other odd kids. Those of us with funny parents always seemed to find each other. In first grade my best friend was Rosa, a first generation girl whose parents were from Mexico. In 5th grade my best friend was Lorelei whose mom was from Belgium. We were the ones with the funny lunches. We sat together. These relationships inevitably exposed me to a new world of flavors and textures I would have never had otherwise. Pico de Gallo is often refereed as a fresh salsa, but in some parts of Mexico it refers to a fruit salad with dried hot chilies, lime juice, aromatic herbs and salt. I first had dried pico de gallo rub at my friend Rosa’s house. I often ended up at her house after school, which meant I tasted the deliciously exotic-to-me food her mom gave us. Cold papaya with a squeeze of lime sprinkled with dry pico de gallo… an explosion of heat and flavors. First cool fruit, then the red pepper would hit the front and back of the tongue and the heart would start to race, then this was followed by sour and salty sweetness from the juicy fruit. To this day, I prefer a fruit salad with salt and chili peppers.

Apriots and Adjika

This combination of sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors with spicy aromas is the element of Georgian food I adore most. It brings me to a familiar place, to my childhood, a place only the table can evoke. It is this sense of familiarity between the Mexican and Georgian kitchen and my love of ripe fruit and pico de gallo that gave birth to this Adjika Apricot Jam. It was inspired by my friend Sarah Freeman who traveled with me to Georgia in May. She told me she was going to make a peach pie with adjika paste. A light went off in my head: Peach and Adjika Chutney? Adjika and fruit? It sounded perfect and brought me back to my love of fruit and spice, and this idea I have had for awhile: that a Georgian Mexican fusion kitchen would work perfectly. When I came home I immediately sprinkled some adjika on freshly harvest apricots from my tree. Perfect. Ideas spinning in my head finally brought me back to Mexican fruit salad and Indian chutney.

Georgian food is ultimately a fusion kitchen with influences from all over Eurasia. This is why many people will refer to international kitchens when they first encounter Georgian food. I have always said the Georgian kitchen is a kitchen of ingredients you already know with different combinations of flavors making it completely unique. Which brings me to my Adjika Apricot Jam. Something new but familiar.

I have an enormous apricot tree that is sagging with ripe apricots at the moment, and I am just back from Georgia with a cupboard full of various spices and herbs including four versions of adjika. Upon research, I have come to learn that it originated in the break away region of Abkhazia, and is considered particularly good in the Georgian region of Megrelia. There are as many versions of adjika as there are grandmas. My friend Anastasia is now producing and marketing adjika salts in Sweden and England. They range in style from thick paste, sauce to dry “rub” and in color from bright green and red to a brownish green and orange toned red. The most common ingredients are hot chillies, garlic, dried marigold, barberry, summer savory, and coriander. Some call for all or some ingredients and other ingredients not listed. I love Anastasia’s adjika salt and it has become a staple in my kitchen, but I didn’t want to use a salted version, so I decided to use a dry red adjika I bought in the ancient city of Mtskheta.

I used one kilo of apricots from my tree and followed this apricot jam recipe. To this recipe I added :3 heaping tablespoons of adjika I cracked the kernels of 4 apricots and added them to the jars. I would use any recipe for apricot jam you like and add the adjika to taste. I really love David Lebowitz recipe, though I would not add the lemon juice. Familiar, and still Georgian using my own fruit.

COPYRIGHT: NO PART OF THIS POST; TEXT OR PHOTOS CAN BE REPRODUCED OR USED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR.If you are interested in food tours and travel in Georgia, contact us.

I attended the Opening Ceremony of the 2015 Tbilisi New Wine Festival on the 8th of May as a guest of the Georgian Wine Club. The stunning views over the city from the hosting Funicular Restaurant were certainly magnificent, a perfect choice to open this now annual event. This year’s theme was “Other Varieties” and included a tasting led by Malkhaz Kharbedia of the

During the tasting at the opening ceremony, we tasted 10 wines made from rare Georgian grape varieties. Six of the 10 were produced in qvevri. Most were well made, two were absolutely gorgeous and two were nearly undrinkable.

SOLD OUT!!

On Thursday, February 5 at 19:30 Beppe e i suoi formaggi will host producer Georgian wine producer Eko Glonti as he will personally present seven natural wines from Lagvinari, the company he founded in Kakheti. Eko Glonti, Gurian Renaissance man, doctor, geologist and vigneron makes some of the most exquiste wines in Georgia. His Tsolikouri is one of the best wines I have ever tasted. You can also find him featured in Isabelle Legeron’s film on Georgian wine.Georgia is one of the oldest centers of cultivation of the vine, as well as the country with the highest ampelographical diversity and thus the country with the highest amount of different grape varieties in the world. During the tasting Eko Glonti will discuss the production of his exquisite wines and also illustrate the technique of Georgian wine production in “qvevri” (amphorae), the oldest wine vessel int he world traced back to 6,000 BCE. Discover the birthplace of wine, Georgia, which boasts 8,000 years of uninterrupted wine making tradition. We will (re)discover the wines of ancient Georgia (Colchis) even in Homer’s Odyssey and in the Argonauts of Apollonius of Rhodes.We will have the event in both English and Italian. Dr. Glonti will guide us thorugh a tasting of the following seven wines: Tsolikouri-A golden yellow wine made in qvevri with 45 days of skin contact. Aromas of plums, stone fruit and apples as well as honeyed notes. Taste is fresh and highly acidic, which is typical of the grape. Long nutty finish, tastes of hazelnuts.Tsitska-Straw colored wine with aromas of citrus, pear and vegetation as well as honey aromas and melon. It is very lively and fresh. Produced in qvevri. Krakhuna-Amber in color, fermented and aged in qvevri, plums, peaches, honey and dates as well as hazelnut and cake. It is very lively and complex on the palate with nutty flavors that end with a touch of honey flavor. Goruli Mtsvane-Amber/copper in color, nutty aromas, herbal notes, peach tea, stone fruit, Very pleasant taste that is fresh but with rather structured tannins. Aladusturi-Pale cherry color. Aladusturi is a thin skinned grape Sour cherries, herbal notes, and sweet spices as well as berries. It is a rather elegant wine with a long cherry finish. Otskhanuri Sapere-Beetroot red in color. Very aromatic and sharp aromas of berries, with wild and green notes as well. as well as balsamic notes. It is a highly acidic wine that should be aged for a number of years. Evolves in the glass and in the bottle Saperavi-The only non qvevri wine of the line, Saperavi is a thick skin grape that means Dye. It is thick skinned and one of the few grapes on earth that also has pigment in the pulp. This creates extremely inky and deeply colored wines. Ripe cherries, wild berries, tobacco aromas, wild green notes, red currents, bitter walnuts. It is extremely complex n the nose and in the palate. It is very structured with juicy tannins and a fresh, long berry finish. Seven Georgian Wines Lagvinari: Tsitska – Tsolikouri – Goruli Mtsvane – Krkahuna – Aladusturi – Otskhanuri Knowing – Saperavi

For information on the tasting call 06 68192210 RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED!! PLEASE CALL!! The event is supported by the National Wine Agency, Georgia. For more information about Georgian wines: www.facebook.com/tastegeorgiawineand www.tastegeorgia.co

Have you ever been to an event, where you had no idea why you were there, or why you were invited? One where you look around at the people and the atmosphere, and you think to yourself, “I am out of my league here.” This happened to me a few weeks ago. It was one of the most unique and riveting tastings of my wine career, with people I liked and admired, that was led and organized by one of the world’s leading ampelologists and wine sleuths; the highly celebrated co-author of Wine Grapes, José Vouillamoz. He called it Impossible Valais  and said it was the most exciting tasting he had ever organized. Whether I was worthy, I’m still unsure, but I was an interested student ready to soak up any and all information to the best of my ability. José Vouillamoz is the ultimate wine geek, in the best sense of the term. A botanist trained in grape genetics, he is a champion of rare grape

varieties, and willing to get his hands dirty in order to recover them Have you ever been to an event, where you had no idea why you were there, or why you were invited? One where you look around at the people and the atmosphere, and you think to yourself, “I am out of my league here.” This happened to me a few weeks ago. It was one of the most unique and riveting tastings of my wine career, with people I liked and admired, that was led and organized by one of the world’s leading ampelologists and wine sleuths; the highly celebrated co-author of Wine Grapes, José Vouillamoz. He called it Impossible Valais  and said it was the most exciting tasting he had ever organized. Whether I was worthy, I’m still unsure, but I was an interested student ready to soak up any and all information to the best of my ability. José Vouillamoz is the ultimate wine geek, in the best sense of the term. A botanist trained in grape genetics, he is a champion of rare grape varieties, and willing to get his hands dirty in order to recover them

He’s true to his craft, he’s a scientist, and his opinions are backed up by inarguable facts, but he’s also hilarious and is never short on great one-liners. With a witty tongue quicker than John Wayne’s trigger finger, he’s a breath of fresh air in the frequently stuffy and rigid wine community. When you are with him in a social setting, or at a tasting, you wish you’d brought an audio recorder to capture all his José-isms, (my term, I want to write a book based on these). We need him. The world’s best wine professionals descended on Montreux for the DWCC for a weekend of learning, and we can thank José Vouillamoz and his mission to put Swiss Wines on the map for schooling us all in their virtue and rarity. Thanks to José many of us look at Swiss wine through a new lens. 12 lucky participants had the opportunity to travel through his motherland for three days with him, tasting some of the best and rarest wines of Switzerland, beginning with the Impossible Valais tasting at Sensorama at Châteaude Villa in Sierre.

Though we’d all had ample opportunity to taste a multitude of Swiss wines over the weekend, I don’t believe any of us were emotionally prepared for the once-in-a-lifetime tasting that José called Impossible Valais.He explained that “impossible” referred to the rarity of the wines we’d taste. The wines bordered on the sublime, ranging from rare and “archaeological” grapes to the truly perfect 1971 Petite Arvine. Le Valais produces some of the most incredible wines I have ever tasted, but before the conference in Montreux and this trip, the only Swiss wine I ever had was young Fendant. I have since learned that Fendant/Chasselas should be considered a very serious wine. Yet, it is virtually impossible to find these gems outside of Switzerland. They export only 2% of the wines they produce and produce 0.2% of the world’s wine so it is no surprise that many people have no idea that Swiss wine even exists. The standing joke is that they export so little of their wine because it is so good that they (the Swiss) drink them all before the rest of the world has a chance.

I never knew that there was so much diversity, that white Swiss wines can age, and well. There is certainly nothing more educational than guided tastings and full immersion in a wine region. Now, after seeing the heroic vineyards and tasting the wines crafted by generous people, I am converted. Swiss wines verge on the magical, they are spirited and convey the essence of the land and people. Well crafted and generous. I hope that we will see more of these wines in the international market, without compromising their spirit. The wines we tasted at the Impossible Valais tasting were thoughtful, rare and the beginning of a very emotional wine love story.

Wine: Arvine
Producer: Provins
Grape: Petite Arvine
Vintage: 1971
Notes: Exquisite wine that was everything about autumn poured into a glass. Marmalade, leaves, chestnuts, pumpkins, citrus along with figs, dates, quince and fermenting cheese. This was an extremely complex bouquet that I wanted to come back to. Despite its 43 years of age it was fresh and well balanced with the acid matched with an oily texture.

THE WINES

Wine: Plantscher
Producer: Chanton Kellerei
Grape: Gros Bourgogne
Vintage: 2007
Notes: Gros Bourgogne is indeed a rare grape, there are only .05 ha and only one producer, Chanton, who are at the center of rare grape preservation in Valais. Lovely golden yellow color with notes of apples, apricots, honey and chamomile. Fresh, dry and with a silky texture.

Wine: Amigne
Producer: Provins
Grape: Amigne
Vintage: 1967
Notes: Amigne is an grape from the Valais, there are 42 ha in the world and they are mostly near the town of Vétroz. I have to admit that I fell in love with this grape over the course of the conference and then this tasting. I find it quite exotic even when young. The 1967 was very pleasant and reminded me of distant lands. Candied fruit, Turkish delight, rose water, oranges, chestnuts and dates. It was pleasantly dry despite such sweet notes.

Wine: Amigne
Producer: Provins
Grape: Amigne
Vintage: 1967
Notes: Amigne is an grape from the Valais, there are 42 ha in the world and they are mostly near the town of Vétroz. I have to admit that I fell in love with this grape over the course of the conference and then this tasting. I find it quite exotic even when young. The 1967 was very pleasant and reminded me of distant lands. Candied fruit, Turkish delight, rose water, oranges, chestnuts and dates. It was pleasantly dry despite such sweet notes.

Wine: Johannisberg St-Théodule
Producer: Orsat
Grape: Silvaner
Vintage: 1955
Notes: 1955 is considered the vintage of the century in Switzerland. Orange peel, lilies, honey and baby powder. Extremely fresh and vibrant with long persistent citrus taste.

Wine: Rouge de Pays
Producer: Stéfano Délitroz
Grape: Rouge de Pays
Vintage: 2011
Notes: This is made from grapes from 80-year-old ungrafted vines that are erroneously called Cornalin in Switzerland. It was very “meaty” with a hint of chinotto, with lots of briny notes, like olives, which was reflected on the palate along with red berries. Rich tannins and full body with a persistent finish. A well balanced and meaty wine. I would like to taste it in about 10 years.

Wine: Côte Rotie La Torque
Producer: Guigal
Grape: Syrah
Vintage: 2001
Notes: We tasted two Syrahs blindly, one French and one Swiss All we knew going it was that one was French and one was Swiss. This one was more impressive for me but I think it was context. We had just tasted some serious wines, and I think my palate was much more responsive to this richer tasting wine at the time. Rich nose of berries, fennel pollen, licorice, wet stones, balsamic notes and pepper. On the palate it was juicy with really immense tannins. Very enjoyable wine.

Wine: Vieilles Vignes Syrah
Producer: Simon Maye & Fils
Grape: Syrah
Vintage: 2001
Notes: I think my nose and palate deceived me because my tasting notes are quite sparse after the first syrah. It had green notes, berries. It has less tannic than the first and I think suffered from reduction. Perhaps over the course of a few hours it would show better. I quite enjoyed tasting Syrah at the winery and in fact tasted the best Syrah I have ever tasted there.

Wine: Crystal Eyholzer Roter Eiswein
Producer: Chanton Kellerei
Grape: Eyholzer Roter
Vintage: 2008
Notes: One of the most unique wines I have ever tasted. Made from the Eyholzer Roter wine grape, an extremely rare grape with a unique DNA profile. Only .25 ha of it are produced by one producer. According to Wine Grapes, “ One ancient vine 150-250 years old, has been found near Visp, in the town of Stalden, and an even older one in the middle of the town of Sion, some 50 km from Visp.” Magnificent amber colour. Wild strawberries, freshly burnt sugar cane fields and molasses on the nose. Tastes confirms the nose. Strawberries, crème brûlée, opulent and sweet balanced by racy acidity that lingers. Long and intense finish. A superb wine.