Wine is believed to have originated in Georgia, and is notably inherent to the local culture: Almost every family makes their own that is then brought to the dinner table in two-litre bottles. Vines can be spotted everywhere from the numerous countryside vineyards to the many shading inner-city courtyards and decorating buildings on the streets of Tbilisi. Even the Georgian’s national symbol – the statue of Mother Georgia – holds a bowl of wine in one hand, to greet her guests, and a sword in the other, for her enemies.

Traditionally, local wines fermented naturally in underground buried ‘qvevri’ (large clay vessels) that have been a significant part of Georgian wine making since its very start, almost 8000 years ago. However, for much of Georgia’s history, these wines weren’t bottled to be sold – they were made by families to share with friends and neighbours. This small-scale traditional production took a hard hit under Soviet rule and the craftsmanship of qvevri making almost disappeared. But, over the past decade, a rebirth of this type of winemaking has made natural qvevri wines available to the public –and is slowly marching Georgian wines into a new age of international glory and appreciation.

Natural Georgian wines come in every colour on the sunshine spectrum: deep beaming shades of copper, spice, marmalade and gold make for the local category of ‘Amber Wines’. That is, macerated whites that can ferment for up to 8 or 9 months using a skin contact method in the qvevri. The result is potent wines with a mouth-grabbing fruit flavour that can hold a variety of notes like leather, pepper, toast or spice, all given by the natural grape.

While on the topic, Georgia has the highest concentration of indigenous grape varieties used for winemaking per hectare of land, in the world. So much so that it’s not a rare gem to find a grape that only two, maybe three people are producing. Trying to choose a bottle to taste upon arrival might feel overwhelming at first as the names are unheard of to most new comers: Aladasturi, Rkatsiteli, Dzelshavi, Tavkveri, Chkaveri, Tsolikauri and about 520 other grapes are produced all over Georgia’s very different regional landscapes and soils, making this small country home to a widely impressive selection to try out while you’re here.

Although the food is amazing, what holds people together around the Georgian table is the wine. A long history of toasting makes it hard for many Georgians to take a sip without having said some words of blessing to their guests, their host, their family, their country, their strength, to love, women and friendship. They are all mentioned one after the other every time the small crystal glasses are poured. As the evening goes on, the words of poetry often turn into beautiful polyphonic song. The Georgian feast could do just as well with only bread and cheese, but it could never do without wine – the glue that holds society together in their daily celebration of love and life.