Wines of Georgia (part 2)
There are five main regions of viniculture, the principal region being Kakheti, which produces seventy percent of Georgia's grapes. Traditionally, Georgian wines carry the name of the source region, district, or village, much like French regional wines such as Bordeaux or Burgundy. As with these French wines, Georgian wines are usually a blend of two or more grapes. For instance, one of the best-known white wines, Tsinandali, is a blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes from the micro regions of Telavi and Kvareli in the Kakheti region. Kindzmarauli is a semi-sweet, deep red wine from the Kvareli micro-region made from Saperavi grapes. Traditionally, Georgian wines were (and are) fermented in large clay vessels called "kvevris" and left with skins and seeds for an additional three or four months. Certain wines such as the white Gurjani and dry, red Mukuzani are aged in oak casks. Georgian wineries and grape producers have also adopted European practices for wine production, and there is now a wide selection of new wines. Other excellent and interesting traditionally named wines are the semi-sweet red Khvabchkara and Akhasheni, and dry red Kvareli.

Georgia ranks fourth in grape production in the former Soviet Union behind Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova, though Georgian wines were the most highly prized. Unfortunately, they are now the most widely imitated and counterfeited, and reportedly, as much as ninety percent of Georgian wines sold in Russia are bogus. There is virtually no protection of Georgian wine names. Moscow markets have Georgian wines with names like Kindzmarauli produced in cities throughout Russia. As a Russian winemaker remarked to me a few years ago, "If there was so much Georgian wine as can be found in shops in Moscow, Georgia would be under a sea of wine."
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