Vineyard

Kvaresli Side

Kvareli Side vineyard is unique. The quest for vineyard efficiency has produced a bewildering range of systems and techniques in recent years. Due to the often much more fertile New World growing conditions, attention has focussed heavily on managing the vine’s more vigorous growth. Innovation in palissage (training of the vine, usually along a trellis, and often referred to as “canopy management”) and pruning and thinning methods (which aim to optimize the Leaf Area/Fruit (LA/F) ratio relative to a vineyard’s microclimate) have largely replaced more general, traditional concepts like “yield per unit area” in favor of “maximizing yield of desired quality”.

Udabno Side

As for the Udabno Side, Many of these new techniques have since been adopted in place of traditional practice in the more progressive of the so-called “Old World” vineyards. Other recent practices include spraying water on vines to protect them from sub-zero temperatures (aspersion), new grafting techniques, soil slotting, and mechanical harvesting. Such techniques have made possible the development of wine industries in New World countries such as Canada. Today there is increasing interest in developing organic, ecologically sensitive and sustainable vineyards. Biodynamics has become increasingly popular in viticulture. The use of drip irrigation in recent years has expanded vineyards into areas which were previously unplantable.

Samtskhe-javakheti

Samtskje-Javakheti vineyard is the most unique. The implementation of mechanical harvesting is often stimulated by changes in labor laws, labor shortages, and bureaucratic complications. It can be expensive to hire labor for short periods of time, which does not square well with the need to reduce production costs and harvest quickly, often at night. However, very small vineyards, incompatible widths between rows of grape vines and steep terrain hinder the employment of machine harvesting even more than the resistance of traditional views which reject such harvesting.

Terroir

Terroir refers to the combination of natural factors associated with any particular vineyard. These factors include things such as soil, underlying rock, altitude, slope of hill or terrain, orientation toward the sun, and microclimate (typical rain, winds, humidity, temperature variations, etc.). No two vineyards have exactly the same terroir, although any difference in the resulting wine may be virtually undetectable. Vineyards are often on located on hillsides and planted in soil that is of only marginal value to other plants. A common saying is that “the worse the soil, the better the wine.”

Planting on hillsides, especially those facing north (in the southern hemisphere) or south (in the northern hemisphere), is most often in an attempt to maximize the amount of sunlight that falls on the vineyard. For this reason, some of the best wines come from vineyards planted on quite steep hills, conditions which would make most other agricultural products uneconomic. The stereotypical vineyard site for wine grapes (in the Northern hemisphere) is a hillside in a dry climate with a southern exposure, good drainage to reduce unnecessary water uptake, and balanced pruning to force the vine to put more of its energy into the fruit, rather than foliage.

Grape varieties

There are 33 varieties of vine in Anapea village, treated using only sulfur and copper preparations, just the way the Kakheitans used to do in the 19th century. There are 33 varieties of vine in Anapea village, treated using only sulfur and copper preparations, just the way the Kakheitans used to do in the 19th centuryThere are 33 varieties of vine in Anapea village, treated using only sulfur and copper preparations, just the way the Kakheitans used to do in the 19th century