“National Wine Day is a celebration of our identity, cultural heritage, and the centuries-old history that has established Georgia as the homeland of wine on the world map,” said President Mikheil Kavelashvili during his speech at the conference dedicated to National Wine Day.

President Kavelashvili affirmed that Georgia is one of the most ancient cradles of civilisation, and that Georgians take immense pride in an unbroken winemaking tradition spanning eight thousand years, a tradition that speaks to their profound and enduring bond with the land.

“Our statehood stretches back three thousand years, and seventeen centuries ago, the proclamation of Christianity as our state religion gave definitive shape to our values and our spiritual bearings. National Wine Day is a celebration of our identity, our cultural heritage, and the centuries of history that placed Georgia on the world map as the birthplace of wine. From the tending of the vine, through the birth of wine, to the crowning phenomenon of the Georgian feast, this complete and utterly singular process is an inseparable and unbroken cycle of our identity. Every touch of the vine, every moment spent among the vineyards, is in truth an expression of the unconditional love that every Georgian holds for his land and his homeland,” the President declared.

President Kavelashvili expressed his gratitude to all those who continue to honour and uphold this ancient tradition, and who introduce the world to Georgia as the birthplace of wine and a land of unparalleled hospitality.

“It is profoundly symbolic that the Georgian people liken the qvevri to the human heart: just as the heart sustains the body with blood, so the qvevri nourishes our culture with that sacred liquid which has given life to the Georgian feast and to our traditions of fellowship across the centuries.

The vine and wine are the very lifeblood of Georgian existence; this is attested by the clusters of grapes and ornamental carvings etched into the walls of our ancient churches. For Georgian master builders, the vine was as sacred as the church itself. Our hymns, our folklore, and our literature are suffused with a love of the vine.

Everywhere, in the sacred hymn ‘You Are the Vineyard’, in the thunderous Mravaljamier, and in the works of our greatest poets, the vine stands as an expression of purity, of life, and of survival. And the supreme symbol of Georgia’s conversion to Christianity is Saint Nino’s cross of vine, which forever reminds us of the unbreakable unity between our faith and our native soil. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to every winemaker, to every farmer, who continues to this day to uphold this most ancient of traditions and to reveal Georgia to the world as the birthplace of wine and a land of hospitality,” declared Mikheil Kavelashvili.