Georgian National Museum Archives

Day One of Wine Tour – Tbilisi and the Georgian National Museum

(March 2016) The next morning, I awoke very excited about the first official day of our wine tour organized by the Georgian Wine Association. The first stop was fittingly the Georgian National Museum where we were welcomed with a short lecture overviewing the wine industry, and then invited to tour the museum in order to see the oldest winemaking equipment and pips in the world. Oldest Qvevri in the World We saw the oldest qvevri, carbon dated at over 8000 years. It was smaller than I expected, but then it was explained that many people in Georgia make wine in [...]

Three Ancient Legends of Georgia, Including the Mystery of the Silver Grapevine Tubes

While visiting the Georgian National Museum, we learned of three ancient legends of Georgia, and the first two are connected to wine. Saint Nino and Her Grapevine Cross Legend says that the apostles Simon and Andrew came to Georgia sometime after the death of Jesus to convert the country to Christianity. However, they were ignored by the Georgians. It took Saint Nino (a female), who came to Georgia in 337, to convert the King and Queen. She did this by making a cross of grapevines tied together with her hair. This linkage to the vine, which was always important to [...]