Winemaking Traditions and Cellars and Wine-Presses in Ajara

Abstract

Georgia is an ancient country for wine origins and its development. Viticulture and wine production take an important place in all regions of Georgia including Ajara. Upper vines were most common in Ajara because they were well adapted to strict and freezing winter. Wine production in Ajara along with vine species is confirmed by wine presses curved in cliffs and big rocks and made of limestones, stone cellars, pitchers with various volumes buried in the earth, oral narratives, terminological data, etc. Ancient and medieval wine presses are identified in lower areas of mountainous Ajara – Kobuleti, Keda and Khelvachauri municipalities (Kobuleti municipality – Zeniti village, Keda municipality – Zundaga, Kokotauri, Akho, Akutsa, Bzubzu, Ortsva, Dzentsmani, Koromkheti, Makhuntseti; Khelvachauri municipality – Zeda Chkhutuneti, Chikuneti, Tskhemlara, Khertvisi, Ked-kedi, Shushaneti, Ortabatumi, Mere, Janavra, Tchontchko, etc.). Wine presses are related to church and secular constructions. Some of them are located in forests, near cliffs, and in the vicinities of upper vineries developed on mountain slopes.

Open and closed-type wine cellars in Ajara are identified in church-monastery, residential and protective complexes. Closed cellars are characterized by rectangular planned storage located deep in the earth, the space represented with one or two storages, exterior with a flat roof, while interior constructed in a vaulted form, big pitchers in inner and outer territories of the cellar, clearer arrangement of stony walls and facades and high construction culture.