Georgia A Guide To The Cradle Of Wine

Recipient of the Geoffrey Roberts Award, this book delves head first into the 8,000 year-old wine traditions of the Republic of Georgia. A storied past, this mountainous country on the Black Sea is finally getting recognition for its unique and wonderful wines and grapes including Rkatsiteli, Saperavi, Chinuri, Krakhuna, Kisi, and over 400 more. Made in both the “international method” of barrel and tank aging as well as the ancient method of terracotta pots called “kvevri“, Georgia offers up a wine for everyone and delicious local dishes to accompany them. This is your complete guide to the wines, food, and people of this beautiful land.

This new sixth edition of Bradt's Georgia, the only dedicated guide to the country, has been thoroughly updated throughout to include all the most recent developments, ranging from greatly expanded coverage of Batumi, Adjara and Svaneti to the addition of new maps for Tbilisi, Mestia and Telavi. Tourism is booming in Georgia: the number of guesthouses has mushroomed, Tbilisi airport has just opened a second terminal and a new terminal and rail link are under construction at Kutaisi airport. New low-cost flights are now available and visa-free travel is the norm for most. With Bradt's Georgia discover both the old and the new. The capital, Tbilisi, has seen huge changes in the past decade with some conspicuous new projects such as the Peace Bridge, the Opera House and the Presidential Palace, as well as excellent new restaurants and bars. Much of the country can be reached in day-trips from the luxury hotels of Tbilisi and Batumi, and the remotest areas such as Svaneti and the Pankisi Valley can also now be visited. In addition, Mestia, the capital of Svaneti, now has an airport and two ski resorts. Also new for this edition is expanded information on Tusheti and the Trans Caucasian Trail, a volunteer-led project to create two long-distance hiking routes, east-west and north-south, linking the Black Sea with the Caspian, the Greater Caucasus with the Lower Caucasus and Georgia with Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Georgian wine industry is covered, with particular emphasis on natural qvevri wines, and so too are skiing, rugby, the World Heritage sites of Mtskheta and Gelati, Georgian food, 5th-century churches, cave cities, and Georgian polyphonic singing. Bradt's unique guide to Georgia is the ideal companion for all travellers, from serious hikers to wine buffs, high-end culture lovers to backpackers of all ages.

A compact illustrated guide to the emerging and enormously popular category of natural wine, a style that focuses on minimal intervention, lack of additives, and organic and biodynamic growing methods. Today, wine is more favored and consumed that it's ever been in the United States--and millennials are leading the charge, drinking more wine than any other generation in history. Many have been pulled in by the tractor beam of natural wine--that is, organic or biodynamic wine made with nothing added, and nothing taken away--a movement that has completely rocked the wine industry in recent years. While all of the hippest restaurants and wine bars are touting their natural wine lists, and while more and more consumers are calling for natural wine by name, there is still a lot of confusion about what exactly natural wine is, where to find it, and how to enjoy it. In Natural Wine for the People, James Beard Award-winner Alice Feiring sets the record straight, offering a pithy, accessible guide filled with easy definitions, tips and tricks for sourcing the best wines, whimsical illustrations, a definitive list to the must-know producers and bottlings, and an appendix with the best shops and restaurants specializing in natural wine across the country, making this the must-buy and must-gift wine book of the year.

This new title from Bradt tells the inspiring and emotional story of Ishbel Holmes, also known as 'World Bike Girl', a Scottish-Iranian woman who became a champion racing cyclist in spite of having been abandoned by her family, and who set off on the adventure of a lifetime despite her lack of experience, money or equipment. Ishbel Holmes was determined to cycle the world but her journey took a completely unexpected turn when, despite her initial instincts not to, she rescued a street dog in Turkey. Ishbel was lost and alone when she started on her epic trip, but in Lucy found a companionship never previously known. Between the two there formed a deep bond and their relationship was followed and supported by thousands of readers online, before becoming a media sensation overnight when Ishbel put out a plea for help to transport Lucy to an animal shelter three hundred miles away. This heart-rending tale is about more than just the relationship between a woman and her dog. It is a testimony to the human spirit, overcoming present-day challenges and churning up long-buried and painful memories from Ishbel's earlier life. It is also a tale of adventure, one person's determination to cross an unfamiliar country by bike and the unforgettable scenes that greet her on the Turkey-Syria border and into Syria itself. And it is a loving portrait of Lucy, the street dog that was determined not to let Ishbel go and whose dogged persistence helped to break down the barriers around her heart and in so doing change her life in ways she had never imagined. Ultimately, this is a tale of love and healing, a modern fable that touches the soul and reminds us all of the need to belong.

Georgia is the new top-ranking destination for adventurous wine lovers. If you are looking for new grape varieties, bold tannic flavours, delicious food and breathtaking natural sceneries you won’t be disappointed. What you’ll discover in these 280 richly illustrated pages: - Georgia's history, culture and the pivotal role wine plays in it; - different wine growing regions and their wine maps; - best terroirs and PDOs; - most popular endogenous grape varieties; - unique 8000-year-old winemaking technology that uses skin-contact fermentation and buried ‘Qvevri’ clay-jars (instead of oak barrels); Whether you’re a wine professional or an enthusiastic amateur, the book will delight you with insights and anecdotes that you can easily share with your customers and friends: - Stories of the main historic Estates provide a glimpse of the complex geo-political trends that have shaped the Southern Caucasus; - Short profiles of the new generation wine makers explain their struggle to shake off Soviet heritage by going back to ancient customs; - The very Georgian tradition of Tamada and Supra that calls to mind the philosophical ‘symposiums’ of the ancient Greeks as seen by French philosopher, Michel Eltchaninoff. A Wheel of Taste to find your favourite Georgian wine Navigating Georgian grape varieties, with sometimes unpronounceable names, can be a challenge. To help you find the best match, Sarah Abbott MW has created a “wheel of taste” that will help you find the Georgian “equivalent” based on your tastes in popular European wines. Last but not least, you will discover all 525 endogenous grapes varieties and learn which one was Stalin’s favourite. The book will prove itself a useful guide to whomever is willing to explore unusual tastes of a country so close and yet so different to Europe.

In 2011 when Alice Feiring first arrived in Georgia, she felt as if she'd emerged from the magic wardrobe into a world filled with mythical characters making exotic and delicious wine with the low-tech methods of centuries past. She was smitten, and she wasn't alone. This country on the Black Sea has an unusual effect on people; the most passionate rip off their clothes and drink wines out of horns while the cold-hearted well up with tears and make emotional toasts. Visiting winemakers fall under Georgia's spell and bring home qvevris (clay fermentation vessels) while rethinking their own techniques. But, as in any good fairy tale, Feiring sensed that danger rode shotgun with the magic. With acclaim and growing international interest come threats in the guise of new wine consultants aimed at making wines more commercial. So Feiring fought back in the only way she knew how: by celebrating Georgia and the men and women who make the wines she loves most, those made naturally with organic viticulture, minimal intervention, and no additives. From Tbilisi to Batumi, Feiring meets winemakers, bishops, farmers, artists, and silk spinners. She feasts, toasts, and collects recipes. She encounters the thriving qvevri craftspeople of the countryside, wild grape hunters, and even Stalin's last winemaker while plumbing the depths of this tiny country's love for its wines. For the Love of Wine is Feiring's emotional tale of a remarkable country and people who have survived religious wars and Soviet occupation yet managed always to keep hold of their precious wine traditions. Embedded in the narrative is the hope that Georgia has the temerity to confront its latest threat--modernization.