“No lesson in the complex art of Georgian cuisine is complete without a toast or two, says Killian Fox, writer of the article about a tour Georgia’s mountains and cities published by The Guardian.

Killian Fox writes about his culinary journey around Georgia and says that Georgians “really love drinking, be it the complex amber wine for which the country is increasingly renowned, or the potent chacha spirit made from leftover grape skins and pips. If you get into a situation where one or the other is being knocked back over a period of several hours, punctuated by increasingly heartfelt toasts from a tamada, or toast master, I can only wish you the best of luck.”

“Georgia is one of the oldest wine-producing countries in the world – there’s evidence of grape fermenting here 8,000 years ago – but the Soviets whittled more than 500 grape varieties down to just four or five, to maximise efficiency. Since then, Georgian winemakers have been working hard to bring lost varieties back to life.

They’ve also revived traditional winemaking methods that fell out of favour during the Soviet era. Jane takes me down to her cellar, where she and her brother are fermenting wine in qvevris – giant clay jars buried in the ground for six months or more. Burial in clay keeps the temperature of the wine stable, she says, which means less intervention is needed during fermentation,” reads the article.

Read the full article at https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/dec/09/georgia-on-my-mind-a-culinary-journey-in-the-caucasus