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© 2010-2017 Steve Slatcher
Author Archives: Steve Slatcher
What is it with wine?
For your amusement, let’s kick off with a video rant about the French and wine… Well, it amused me. It also touched on a lot of issues most people have with wine, not just in France. At the risk of taking it far too … Continue reading
Why is wine the colour that it is?
Aren’t red wines red because they are made from red grapes? And white wines white because their grapes are white? That is usually sort-of correct as far as it goes. At least if you take red to be sufficiently loosely defined to include various shades of purple; … Continue reading
Wine, ideology and quality
Particularly in recent months this topic has been on my mind a lot, as I have been drinking more natural wines, thinking about them, and listening to what others have to say. I’ve been wanting to write about it for a while, but couldn’t … Continue reading
Qvevri winemaking – variety, tradition and innovation
Although qvevri winemaking does indeed have an 8,000 year continuous history in Georgia, it is important to realise that it has not remained unchanged throughout that period, and that practice varies from region to region, even within regions. It is not a single concept that should … Continue reading
Qvevri – manufacture, use, and rise to fame
Qvevri – a large clay vessel of distinctive shape, used for winemaking. The Georgian word ქვევრი apparently means that which is buried, and gets transliterated into the Latin alphabet as qvevri or kvevri. The two spellings exist as, while the … Continue reading
Georgian wine labels – understanding and pronouncing
When trying to understand a Georgian wine label, I would first try to locate any bits of text that refer to region or grape variety. Continue reading
Georgia: a guide to the cradle of wine – book review
Georgia: a guide to the cradle of wine, by Miquel Hudin and Daria Kholodilina, available direct from Vinologue for $26 plus shipping. Very recently published, I think it is fair to say that this is the only book about Georgian wine … Continue reading
Online information about Georgian wine
As Georgian wine gets more popular, there is an increasing number of easily digestible online summary articles, and if you want to seek those out I shall leave you in the capable hands of Google. But more surprising for me is the large amount detailed and authoritative … Continue reading
Telavi Wine Cellar, and their Marani and Satrapezo wines
This place is big. Huge. It’s quite possibly the largest wine-producing outfit I have ever visited, and seems only the larger for the contrast with most of the other Georgian producers on this trip. I cannot find volume production figures, but … Continue reading
Iago Bitarishvili and Iago’s Wine
As we left our minibus for lunch at Iago’s place, two things became apparent. One was the beauty of his horticultural garden, the other being the surprisingly large size of his restaurant. Iago only uses 2 ha of vineyard, but people certainly have an … Continue reading