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Ineza Karalashvili has been making wine in the Kakheti region of Georgia for over sixty years, together with her brother Tamaz. Their family has been making and selling wine for generations before that, with their forebears among the influential "Merchants of the First Guild" in the nineteenth century.
Ineza, who recently turned 85, is the wine chemist responsible for quality control at Georgian Royal Wine, and Tamaz is the head winemaker. They work together with the family’s younger generation, including Rezo, Kate, and Irma. Irma, Ineza’s daughter, joins the Modo di Bere podcast New York City to translate for her mother and uncle as they call in from Georgia.
Irma describes the Georgian feast, or "supra," including the personality traits required to serve as the "tamada," a sort of master of ceremonies who leads the complex toasting ritual. Irma recently had Rose Thomas over to her place for a miniature supra, where they tasted her family's delicious wines and Irma's incredible cooking, a skill she learned from her mother. She also teaches Rose Thomas several Georgian drinking sayings.
Learn more about the family's wines at their website: https://grw-wine.com/en/
Follow Georgian Royal Wine on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgian.royal.wine/
A young Ineza and Tamaz [/caption] [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1200"]
Irma pouring wine at the Wines of Georgia trade tasting in New York City
Irma’s khinkali , a Georgian dumpling with meat and broth inside
- Auto-generated transcript. (Please excuse errors.)It's so close to my heart and touching every bottle of wine. I know that my mom's, my uncle's positive vibes are there. And this is very close and precious to me. And I know that when I say a real wine, I mean it. Welcome to Modo di Bere, the podcast about local drinks and local sayings. On your host, Rose Thomas Bannister. I've popped out to my Brooklyn Firescape to announce this month's sponsor, Culture Without Borders, Language Collective. You might remember hearing from CWB co -founder, Lindsay Schwerer, who did a two -part episode in season one. If you've been meaning to improve your Spanish, CWB has a free opportunity for you and I'll tell you more about it later in the episode. Today I'm extremely pleased to be talking about wines from the country of Georgia with the family behind the company Georgian Royal Wine. So I have here with me in New York, Irma, and her mother and uncle, Ineza and Tamaz, are joining us remotely from the Kakheti region of Georgia. So each of these family members will be answering different questions and Irma will be translating for Inesa and Tamas. Before we begin, I want to let all of our listeners know that this is a listener -supported podcast so please go to patreon .com /mododibere and sign up to become a supporter now so that we can keep doing these cool shows. Welcome! Thank you! Thank you for hosting us. It's a pleasure and honor to be here, kind of ambassador between the Georgian Royal Wine and my family here in New York, it's going to be great. Let's have each of you introduce yourselves and explain your role in the winery. My name is Ineza Karalashvili. I am 84 and working for the wine for more than 60 years now. And at GRW, I am overseeing the physical and chemical analysis of wine, ensuring its quality and compliance with standards. Great. Thank you, Ineza. Now let's hear from Tamaz. My name is Tamaz Karalashvili. I work in the winery since 1966 and the as a wine maker and technologist and he has a title of the first great technician. So he's doing everything like from the very first step of harvesting and producing wine making sure that it has a compliant with the requirements and control and taste and aroma and everything. And Irma, what's your what's your role in the winery as you're living here in the United States? So actually, I don't do wine. I am just trying and making sure that it's popularized and people the U .S. chased a real wine because it's not just a wine. It's so close to my heart and touching every bottle of wine. I know that my moms, my uncles, positive vibes are there and this is very close and precious to me. And I know that when I say a real wine, I mean it. So I just want American people to drink a real wine, not just wine. What makes Georgian wine so special? First of all, the quality and its chemical and physical descriptions that makes it different from the other wines. Italian wines can easily compete French and Italian wines. The difference is only in the price. Unfortunately, Georgian wines are cheaper than Italian and French wines, but the quality is never less than Italian and French wines. And can I mention technology? What makes Georgian wines different from the other country wines is that Georgian wines are fermented and kept in their huge vessel, which is called qvevri in Georgian, and this qvevri is buried in the ground, and it gives a special 10 -inch to wine, and makes different, absolutely different from the other country wines. Why is the company called Royal? What are modes? It is the Magalharis Juan de Guinos. The, the work with science. So the name Karashvili belonged to high rank and the ancestors also belonged to this higher rank and These wines deserve to be called Georgian royal wines and our family had their own heraldic symbol which is located on the bottle as well and as I remember in my childhood we have a huge picture on the wall and this heraldic symbol of our family. Inesa, how did you get started making wine 60 years ago. Yeah, as soon as I graduated from the institute, at age of 24, 25 -ish, Inessa started working in the winery as a chemist, wine chemist, and was responsible for wine quality since then she never left this profession and together with her brother they are working together for more than about 65 years now yeah they're making wine together yeah okay so the next question is for Thomas I would love to know more about the Kakheti region where your winery is located. Kaheti region is eastern part of Georgia, well known with wine maker region of Georgia and the winery is located on the left bank of the river Daruji. So this is a great location for wine for grapes to grow and Kvareli has some varieties that are growing on that region and the only place that can call wine Kindsmaurauli is Kvareli because Kindsmaurauli is the microzone. It's not the name of the grapes. It's name of the microzone. And this microzone is well -known with its micro elements, which is unique. And Saperavi grown in microzone territory is very tasty. It's full of high sugar. And wine made by Saperavi is unique from Georgia. And apart from Saperavi, We grow Rkatsiteli, Tsinandali, and so many other varieties. Okay, so I understand that your company has grown, and now you're a pretty big company there in Kakheti, which is wonderful. Congratulations. I understand that winemaking is a part of life for many Georgian families, even on a tiny scale. I recorded another interview with a Georgian scholar who told me a story about someone digging a hole in his small garage to bury a Khvevri. So maybe, would you please tell me some of the ways that your family members in the past have engaged in winemaking and the wine trade over the generations? So actually my ancestors, my mothers and fathers side both started many many years ago making wine and selling wine and they belong to the higher rank, it was called merchant of the first guild. So a merchant of the first guild was a title in the Russian Empire granted to prominent and wealthy business people who made specific qualifications. This rank came with special privilege and responsibilities. They were responsible on the quality and the privilege was exemption from military service for mission to all large businesses but at the same time pay the higher taxes and they maintain the quality of the wine in the country so my great ancestors Thomas and Ines as grandparents belonged to this first gold merchants after them Thomas and Ines as parents had home cellar in their home like for their home usage and was trying different methods and technologies which is Cajetian style technology and European and later on Thomas's son Revas, my cousin Rezo Karelashvili created and established this huge company and more family members joined the company Kate Karelashvili who is the company, and Rezo is selling, advertising, and Inesa is responsible of the control, and Thomas is the main person, the white maker. So every single person is involved in this family business, and that's lovely, that's so lovely. (gentle music) Spanish learners needed. Culture without borders language collective believes the best way to learn language is through friendship. If you've been wishing you've had real people to practice your Spanish with, CWB is looking for more English -speaking Spanish learners to join their monthly language exchange. These online meetups are completely free for participants. Visit cwbcollective .com and subscribe to their newsletter to get the dates for next month's exchange. That's cwbcollective .com. I'll put the link on the screen or in the notes. Inesa, I hear that you have worked as a chemist and now you're working in the science of the winery. I want to learn more about you and your life as a scientist. For many years, since from the first day when she joined the winery, she has a special addiction and education and taking care as her own child. So she got re -qualification five times and she has trained tons of generation students. And yeah, wine making and a part of the wine, she made a unique Georgian brandy. It's called Koniaki. Koniaki. Yeah, Koniaki. Koniaki. Yeah, it's brandy, Georgian brandy, it's very like a velvet flavor and very popular in our city of Quarelli and not only Quarelli and a part of this she's crazy about flowers, plants, she has tons of plants and I have no idea when is she finding time to take care of her plants and she's cooking, she reads a lot, she cooks amazing cakes and I remember in my childhood when somebody said oh you are Inesa's daughter or you must be a master in cooking because Inesa was a well -known cook and again she is gardening in every season she has each type of like a greens all her who is using by Grins Grown in Reza's garden yeah and again she's at the top of every news in show business she knows everything so again I am asking when you sleep mommy because she's working from 8 to 10 hours a day she reads she's still cooking and I've as an edition I bet that I I've never ever seen and heard any relationship between the siblings like they have. She at age 84, she still is asking, "Did you get a breakfast? Did you get lunch?" She's bringing lunch for her brother and cooks for her and asking, "You feel good?" So they are coming all their life together. This is so special and so cute, them getting to each other. Oh, that's beautiful, yeah! feeling each other professionally and teaching each other because anytime when it comes to my mom's work, Thomas knows and vice versa. So yeah, they are trying to support each other, to help each other professionally or as a, professionally or as siblings. And they respect and value and appreciate each other, their experience. They're just trying to support each other as much as they can and they are feeling each other's experience. I love to learn about ways of giving toasts and saying cheers from around the world. And I have heard that Georgia has an elaborate toasting ritual. So I'd love to know more about that. [Speaking Georgian] So, Tamada, who is a leader of the Supra, like, feast, is a special person, doesn't matter whether it is a small or big event, every Supra has its Tamada, like its leader, toastmaker, and its kind of organizer, and there is a special person who must be chosen as a tamada. Not everyone can serve the tamada because the mother must have qualities like they must be very smart, must speak well, sense of humor, some organizational skills, and they have to orchestrate the table. As for the toasts, Georgians say Gaumarchos, which means, let's say, if we want to say to Rose Thomas, we should say Gaumarchos, Rose Thomas, Gagimarchos, like it's toast to you. So, there is a special order of saying toasts in Georgia, starting from the toast Taos to God, thanking for this day that we are together, healthy. Then one of the first Taos in Georgia is for the peace, which is very important for Georgian people. After so many wars during the centuries, peace is having very specific reasons and importance and then they go to toast to parents, children, siblings, young generation, people who passed away and friends and so on. For Georgians, drinking wine is not the method of getting drunk. For Georgians, it's a process of being getting pleasure and communication, relationships, and singing is also a separable part of Georgian Supra because we are well known with our folklore and polyphonic songs, so when it comes to Supra, everybody knows that Tamada actually is leading, Tamada is giving you permission and giving guidelines when to sing, when to say something. I want to go to one though, that sounds wonderful. You should definitely do it. Tomas and Inesa, I read that you are also making kosher wines there in the Kaheti. I would love to hear that story. So Georgian people and Jewish people has a tradition of friendship for many many years and centuries and that makes us when it comes to when Jewish people offered Jewish partners offered to make kosher wines in our vineyard we are more than happy to do so and technological part is done by Jewish people and we're producing not only and we're producing like a dry wines and different varieties of wines which are done actually again by the Jewish workhorse. That's so interesting. Thank you so much, Tamas and Ines for coming on the show. I'm really happy to meet you. It's really a pleasure. I hope to come one day and visit your winery. I just want to know if there's anything else that you would like people to know about your wines and your family thank you so much for your time for having us here and for your smile and so cordial meeting yeah wine is so important for Georgia and that's why our ancestors sisters said that wine for a newborn baby mother's milk is like a wine and for elderly wine is like a mother's milk as beneficial as mother milk. I love that, I love that. Is that a saying? Yeah, it's that there's a saying and now there's like we have plenty of sayings and as Georgia is winemaker country so we have a lot of sayings if you want to. Yeah, oh yeah, we have some more Yeah, so wine makes a dumb man's pick and wise man makes dumb. That's beautiful. Yeah. Could you pronounce it in Georgia? Yeah. So. Rvino. Moons. Alaparakeps. That presents them in Jepso. Another saying is in Georgian. Kargikatsi, trolligatsi. A drunk man, a good man. I love that. That's beautiful. Yeah. So, and another one is more people drown in wine than in the water. Oh, thank you so much. It was wonderful to meet you too. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. And thank you for all your support and all your work and for everything the whole family does to make these beautiful wines. It's wonderful to have you. Thank you for being your daughter and niece. It's a real honor for me to be a part of the family. Thank you so much for having us today and we indeed look forward to having you in Georgia in our winery and to let you taste our wines and host you in our families. Thank you again. It was an incredible experience for us. And again, wine means so much for Georgian people that Yeah, it's our lives full of wine and it's not just the wine. So it's a passion dedication to every drop of wine See you in Georgia Support us on patreon grab the newsletter at mododibere.com and subscribe to the youtube channel @mododibere to watch the travel show Modo di Bere TV Music for the show was composed by Ersilia Prosperi for the band Ou. Purchase their music at the link in the notes.
Music composed by Ersilia Prosperi for the band Ou: www.oumusic.bandcamp.com
Produced and recorded by Rose Thomas Bannister
Audio and video edited by Giulia Àlvarez-Katz
Audio assistance by Steve Silverstein
