On the eastern coast of the Black Sea and on the border of Asia and Europe, the Georgian people speak a language unrelated to any other and have maintained their culture despite frequent subjugation by more powerful neighbors such as the Romans, the Mongols, Persia, the Ottoman Empire and Russia. One of the most notable features of their culture is the centrality of wine to their tradition of the supra, an extended feast that is punctuated by a multitude of toasts, singing and dancing. Indeed, Georgia has the oldest known record of wine production in the world, at more than 8,000 years. Wine is also produced by most families for their own consumption and therefore only 3% of their domestic wine market is imported. As one would expect, the winemaking techniques and grapes here are similarly distinctive. Almost all of the hundreds of grapes made into wine in Georgia are indigenous and use unique and ancient techniques such as extremely long (many months) maceration on the skins and seeds, even for white grapes, especially in earthenware amphorae that are buried underground, called Qvevri (KEHV-ree). These full-on orange wines are beyond the scope of a club like Kompas, but they are fascinating and we highly encourage you to give one a try, especially if available by the glass. The present example, the Andrias Gvino ‘Mariam’ Kisi (Gvino is the Georgian word for wine and is another piece of evidence in favor of Georgia being the origin of wine) comes from Kakheti, in far southeast Georgia, which is generally acknowledged as the leading wine-producing region and is the source of 80% of the country’s wines. It is macerated for just 2 days, despite its amber color. The winery is named after the son of winemaker George Wolski, who is also a PhD engineer consulting across Europe, but like many Georgians, his family has long ties to wine production. Organically grown and aged in qvevri for 4 to 5 months, it gives aromas of hay, chamomile, green gooseberry, candied ginger and wet gravel with flavors of the same along with asian pear, dried apple and lemon. With just a whisper of tannins, this wine would partner with the usual dishes “normal” white wines would, especially salads of root vegetables with fruit.