Terry Sullivan uses a model of a qvevri to explain traditional Georgian winemaking.

Kathy and I were pleasantly surprised at the projected numbers of people that will attend our author talk on Saturday, February 28th from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm at Harvest Ridge Winery in Marydel, Delaware. Our talk centers around our third book, Georgia, Sakartvelo: the Birthplace of Wine. Where and when grapes were cultivated and made into wine is a topic that many wine enthusiasts think about occasionally. This author talk will present the area south of the Greater Caucasus Mountains where data suggests that wine began. The current wine producing methods, appellation wines and traditional qvevri wines and qvevri making will also be discussed.

The author talk will be an enlightening, fun, educational event. Our experiences in having author talks for the past year were that people generally know that there is a country named Georgia, but they did not realize wine was started there. The other point of discovery is that wine has continuously been made there for 8,000 years. That number is staggering and predates much of human, recorded history on the planet. Another part of the talk is to introduce grape varieties that are unique to Georgia and the Caucasus area. These are not the international grapes that everyone is familiar.

Terry and Kathy will delve into the topic of varietal grapes during a short second presentation about the Wine Century Club. The free club is for anyone that has tasted 100 or more different wine grapes. We have seen wine enthusiasts that said that will be easy for them. They start out listing all the wines made with different grapes that they have had. Often their list stalls around 30. Those in the wine business often go further, but their lists often stop around 70 varietal grapes. That 100 goal is easier said than done. So why bother with becoming a member of the Wine Century Club? Becoming a member for some people is simply fun. It establishes a goal to try to achieve. As a result, you become motivated to try different wines that you may not have considered before. It doesn’t stop at 100 varieties. Terry already has achieved the Doppel level (200 varietal grapes) and is working on the Treble level (300 varietal grapes). Of course visiting Eastern European countries makes the task a bit easier.

Cheers,
Terry