Fig. 1. Abandoned qvevri. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 2. From house gates in Racha to columns in churches, grapes and wine horn decorations are emblazoned on objects like these all around the country. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 3. The roads are full of foragers showing off their seasonal finds, like these baskets full of gorgeous Caesar mushrooms. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 4. In stark contrast to modern winemaking machinery and expensive stainless equipment, traditional winemaking tools are still in use and very effective — wooden pitchforks, slabs of cherry bark, and all manner of gourds. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 5. A collection of gourds used as tools in winemaking. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 6. A peek into wine fermenting in the qvevri. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 7. John Wurdeman’s painting of a worker punching down wine in a qvevri at the Pheasant’s Tears winery. Courtesy of John Wurdeman.

Fig. 8. Ramaz Nikolade taking wine from the qvevri in June 2014. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 9. Imeretian winemaker Archil Guriava in the kind of rustic winery typical of Georgia. Unlike many wineries in that area, his is indoors as opposed to alfresco. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 10. Niki Antadze was successful in getting qvevri into the ground for the 2013 harvest, and this was his winery a year later. The walls will eventually be constructed with hay bales. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 11. Didimi Maglakelidze first bottled his wine late in life, and here he is, illustrated on his label. He sells his wine to six different countries and is proud as hell of his very pretty Krakhuna. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 12. One of the first of the natural wines to be exported out of Georgia was this Rkatsiteli from Soliko Tsaishvili and his friends, who are depicted on the label. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 13. The night of the Chinese menu and Chinuri tasting we drank these four examples. From left: Soso Lotishvili’s Mitra’s Wine Cellar and Giorgi Revazashvili’s Marani. Both are from Ateni and had no skin contact. Next, Pheasant’s Tears, with one month skin contact, and Iago’s Wine, with a whopping six months of skin contact. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 14. After communism thousands of bottles of wines and spirits were abandoned and remained underneath Tbilisi’s Factory No. 1 until recently. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 15. Emzar Gachichiladze, a grape hunter in Meskheti, reaches for grapes for us to sample under his pergola full of grapes that were in danger of extinction. Note the vegetable garden below. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 16. Niki Antadze in the arch of one of the remarkable rooms of the Vardzia Cave City, where evidence of medieval wine production still remains. Courtesy of the author.

Fig. 17. In the shadows of Vardzia stands a rare vine that is over four hundred years old. This is the White Horse Breast vine, here tangled in a tree in the middle of the peaceful forest. Courtesy of John Wurdeman.

Fig. 18. Giorgi “My nickname is Kvevri” Barishivilli stands among freshly made clay vessels. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 19. Giorgi’s uncle in the village of Shuagora in the Imereti region offers a glass of Tsolikauri straight from the qvevri. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 20. Imeretian qvevri maker Zaliko stands among a sea of his vessels. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 21. Zaliko in his studio skillfully blends the ropes of clay into a wine vessel. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.

Fig. 22. Workers constructing a winery in 1934 in the Kakheti region of Gurjaani. The man sitting on a qvevri in the foreground is a foreman in an early wine factory. Courtesy of Giorgi Barishivilli.