Grapes, Grapes, Grapes: Wine Season Begins

gamarjoba!

Another cool thing happened this week!  On my day off Wednesday I helped Tamila and my neighbors Nino and Maia pick some grapes from our grape vines in the backyard!  September and October mean wine-making time in Georgia and since Georgia considers themselves the birthplace of wine, it’s a BIG DEAL.  And, since I'm living in the Kakheti region which is world famous for its wine and wineries, it's an even BIGGER DEAL.  Later in the day about ten people came over to finish all of the picking and they’ve started to put all of the grapes into a big churn thing that squishes the grapes, stems, pits etc.  They'll remove all of the other stuff later, but I don’t really know anything about the wine-making process yet.  

And then last night Tamila, Nino and Maia boiled grape juice and separated it so that some of the juice went into canning jars to drink later and the other half will be used for the national snack of Georgia “Churchkhela.”  This is a string of nuts covered in thickened grape juice.  I’ve already been told I’m coming back to the U.S. with a big supply of this so I’ll be able to share it all with you soon enough! (I think it’s safe to say I’m coming back with a lot of Georgian food and wine J)  I’m hoping to post some more photos as the wine season progresses but here’s a few from the other day:

Just one row of my family's grapes, there's 6 or 7 total I think.

Churchkhela and I on the way up to Kazbegi.  There were five women selling this at the pitstop we stopped at.   It's pretty good, but a little sweet.  The color depends on the grapes you use, so it can even be made with red grapes and is darker in color (and apparently better).

gaumarjos!

Kelsey