The Field Guide
The Caucasus
The oldest winemaking anywhere, and the least drawn. Six regions across Georgia and Armenia, worked for eight thousand years, growing grapes that have never been handed a famous French counterpart to be measured against.
Two countries · six regions
The Caucasus
The history
Clay vessels and grape seeds found in Kakheti push winemaking back more than eight thousand years, and the tradition never broke. Armenia holds the oldest known winery, cut into a cave at Areni.
The land
High valleys held between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus — sheltered from the north, hot and dry through summer, and cold enough in the mountains of Racha to leave sugar in the fruit.
Wine styles
Dark, structured Saperavi and skin-fermented amber whites from qvevri buried in the ground; naturally semi-sweet reds from Racha; dry, high-altitude Areni from Armenia.
The underdogs to drink
Start with the grapes worth the detour. More guides land as we publish them.
Whatever you drink now, there’s an underdog you’d like more.
One overlooked wine at a time: what it tastes like, the famous one it can replace, and the catch. It’s the list our wine club will be built from.
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