The landscapes in Georgia are varied. It has its mountains, forests, sea, beaches, ski runs, and above all a cultural heritage: the oldest churches in the world, polyphonic songs, typical traditional dances in each region. But first of all Georgia exudes wine.
Wine is Georgia’s greatest capital as the country has been recognized “cradle of wine”. Indeed researchers have found, in the South, grape pips that date back 6 to 8,000 years BC using radiocarbon methods and stem from the variety vitis vinifera var. sativa used to make wine. Wine containers known as kvevris or jars have also been found.
Out of the 4,000 grape varieties existing in the world 500 are grown in Georgia. The greatest wine producing region where the biggest number of grape varieties is to be found is Kakheti in the East where the major part of Georgian wines stems from.
In Kakheti there is a wine route where the tourists can visit the vineyards, the cellars, meet the wine growers, taste their vinifications and discover the unique and varied gastronomy of Georgia. Alongside this route is settled Gruzvimprom that has recently become a property of BOLERO & CO. This successful young company founded in 2012 first used to hire this winery before purchasing it.
Thanks to the specialists’ professionalism that BOLERO & CO employs the young firm soon met success thanks to a wide range of brandies and top quality wines. In parallel the company won several times the bids for distillates sold by the Georgian State.
In 2015 BOLERO & CO won the auction sale of the State winery Gruzvimprom. The latter was quite in a good state but needed to be modernized. Extra investments have thus been decided. BOLERO & Co already planned the future.
The winery had 230 ha of vineyards and 70 more hectares have been planted, especially with Saperavi (mainly on the micro zone Kindzmarauli) for the red wines and Rkatsiteli for the white. The winery has a big production potential in kvevris (jars). After a few works the kvevris will be used with specifically Georgian technologies. Nowadays the wines made in kvevris are meeting growing success all over the world, they even have their own trade fair. These wines cannot be confused with any others.
After many months of rebuilding and renewal of the equipments the winery has been inaugurated on June 1st this year. Many guests came from Russia, Kirghizstan, Azerbaidjan, France,… and Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili who evoked in his official speech the importance of the transfer of a major wine state company to the private sector. The exports have also been dealt with and it has to be noted that although Russia remains the biggest market for Georgia, Eastern Europe also successfully develops. As a response winery manager Giorgi Mchedlishvili underlined that before the purchase of the winery they exported about 900,000 hl of pure alcohol over the last three years. He also highlighted the successful launch of new brands, the use of new technologies and the creation of extra jobs.
During the official inauguration BOLERO & CO signed a Memorandum Cooperation with the French distillery Tessendier & Fils, a long term cooperation on the exchange of experiences and technologies, the development of new markets, etc.
The ceremony was followed by a great Georgian celebration in the gardens of the winery with polyphonic songs and Georgian dances. The guests could taste BOLERO & CO wines: Bouquet of Kakheti, David Iverieli, Talavari, Betaneli, Great Mouravie, the excellent wine Usakhelauri, a unique wine whose name means in Georgian “no name” as well as a Ojaleshi wine (a local grape variety) and khvanchkara, a sweet wine, over Georgian gastronomy.
BOLERO & CO has great ambitions that will be completed thanks to the company’s savoir-faire and its team of professionals. For this young company the wine, the terroir, the vine are necessary but the most important are the men who commit themselves in the creation of wine, their love for the profession and their wine grower soul.
We will often hear about BOLERO & CO, they have a bright future ahead and they deserve their place in the wine world.
Pascale Tétot
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