I have spent more than 20 years for traipsing through mountain forests in search of ancient vines growing the way nature intended — up trees. I have found some vines that are more than 100 years old and one that I reckon is more than 400 years old. I have uncovered 40 rare grape varieties in the forests in the south of the country, near the border with Turkey, but I have only been able to identify 24 of them so far. Each year I am foraging wild grapes from old rediscovered centuries-old vines from my region to make truly natural qvevri wine by Georgian traditional methods.
Natenadze’s Wine Cellar, Samtskhe-Javakheti Region – MESKHETI