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Writing a Book about Georgian Wine History

There are certain events in one’s life that have a lifelong impact. One happened while I was in high school. I attended a lecture by Dr. Willard Bascom about the Moho Discontinuity. After high school, I couldn’t recall anything about the lecture other than a comment that Dr. Bascom just happened to mention. It has remained with me for life. Dr. Bascom said, “If you really want to understand something, write a book about it.” This singular statement has driven me for decades. Although not books, I have been a writer of different things from lesson plans, curricula and program evaluations. Wine Trail Traveler provided a vehicle to move from educational writing to travel and wine writing.

In the early years Kathy and I wrote articles and blogs. We differentiate all of our writing. Our first book was published in 2012 and our second book was recently published in 2013. Writing these books about wine did not happen overnight. They were years in the making.

It makes sense to write a book about Georgia and its wine history. Georgia has a wine history that is traced back some 8,000 years ago. This fascinates me. I want to learn more about Georgia as the cradle of wine. As a winemaker, I find it interesting that Georgia has a winemaking practice that is thousands of years old. The practice of fermenting and aging in qvevri buried underground is also fascinating. So many people that Kathy and I have interviewed like to claim that they let the grapes express themselves. Then they add yeast for fermentation and then add bacteria and then put the wine in oak. The grapes are not expressing themselves. The Georgian winemakers, following the old techniques, just put the grapes, juice, skins, seeds and stems in a qvevri and let the wine be made naturally. If anyone has a claim of letting the grapes express themselves, it is the Georgians.

I believe that writing a book about Georgia and its wine history will help me become more knowledgeable about Georgia and a history that everyone should hear. Wine enthusiast should take a moment while looking at the color of the wine in their glass, and ponder how people thousands of years ago made wine without stainless steel tanks and oak barrels.

Cheers,
terry

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