Above: Vineyards of Schuchmann Wines in front of the Schuchmann Hotel in Telavi, Georgia

The country of Georgia is probably the birthplace of wine. The most recent archaeological evidence suggests that 8,000 years ago, winemakers were already at work in a village 20 miles south of Tbilisi. Amazingly, the Neolithic pots in which scientists discovered the wine residue resemble qvevri (kway-vree), large, beeswax-lined clay vessels still used by many Georgian wineries to this day.

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