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and primitive winemaking already existed in the VIth millennium B.C.

According to scientists, viticulture therefore developed in Georgia between the IIIrd and the IInd millennium B.C. The transition from maghlari to dablari probably happened between the IInd and Ist millennia B.C., a theory confirmed by the discovery of sickles, Qvevris (clay vessels) and other tools used in winemaking in almost all the different regions of Georgia. The maghlari vine was known as babilo in those days, and the fact that some of the underground Qvevris in which grape juice was left to ferment were known as sababilo confirms that maghlari wine was kept separate from other kinds of wine. – maghlari vines were trained to grow up pine trees in King Mirian’s paradise (garden) in Mtskheta (the old capital of Georgia). Nino – the young woman who Christianized Georgia in the IVth century A.D. For example, according to one version of The Life of St. Despite this fact, grapes har­vested from maghlari vines were kept separate from those harvested from dablari vines. The first two forms (the most archaic) have been kept unchanged – especially in Western Georgia – and based upon an example given in one village the entire process of the development of viticulture (and therefore of mankind) can be seen. Dablari is, of course, already an intensive form of viticulture during which growers attempt to influence the vine’s development and to control its quantity and quality as well as its growth and foliage through appropriate pruning.Īll these forms of viticulture still exist in Georgia to this day. The second stage – called olikhnari – saw vines being trained up tall stakes or low trees this practice was the first step towards the most developed form of viticulture, dablari, i.e. The first stage was called maghlari, “raised”, in Georgian, and consisted of extensive viticulture during which vines were trained to grow up trees so as to require minimal care. One can imagine there being three basic forms of viticulture, which is somewhat consistent with the three stages of cultural development. Equally important are the different forms of viticulture which have been well preserved in our country.

Many other ancient traces of viniculture have been preserved in Georgia – evidence which reinforces the country’s claims to be the birthplace of wine as well as a place where the relationship between man and wine was never interrupted (as opposed to Asia Minor and other regions of the Caucasus, where this relationship was inter­rupted for centuries). This find was particularly important, as it was the first time that wine and table varieties of grape pips had been found together. in a late Bronze Age dwelling in the village of Dighomi. Just as important was the find of grape pips from the XIV-XIth centuries B.C. in Khizanaant Gora, others in the gorge of the Iori River, and more among the remains of the early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture ( Qvatskhelebi).

were found in Shulaveri, others dating back to the IVth millen­nium B.C. Such finds have been collected in Georgia time and time again over the years, and the following was known before the finds mentioned above were made: grape pips dating back to the V-IVth millennia B.C. and that the territory of modern-day Georgia was not only home to the first efforts at viticulture, but also to the first viniculture. These discoveries are proof that the relationship between Man and wine began in the VIth millennium B.C.

Such deposits of tartaric acid on the internal sides of these clay vessels can only be the result of the presence of wine or grape juice. A chemical analysis of the clay vessels revealed deposits of calcium salts characteristic of tartaric (wine) acid. More recently, in 20, renewed excavations of Gadachrili Gora settlement not only uncovered many more grape pips from the Neolithic but have also examined a multitude of fragments of clay vessels – further evidence of the presence of wine. whose morphological and ampelographical characteristics were identical to those of vitis vinifera sativa. Several decades ago, archaeologists working among the ruins of the settlement of Dangreuli Gora in a valley close to Marneuli (a town in the Lower Kartli region south of Tbilisi) uncovered a great number of grape pips from the VIth millennium B.C. The history of wine began in Neolithic times, and the clearest traces of viticulture have been found on the territory of Georgia. Few would nowadays doubt the assertion that the oldest traces of viticulture are to be found in Georgia.