The Georgian Wine Society aims to  make available the widest selection of the very best wines Georgia has to offer: those that are most popular, renowned or typical in Georgia itself;  those that have gained accolades at international competitions; and those that show how Georgian wine is developing, blending the newest techniques with their ancient heritage.

Straightforward website with simple navigation and online ordering – tasting notes for each wine and background info on Georgia and its wines.
UK Delivery = £9.99

No Tastings offered
The Georgian Wine Society31 Venneit Close Oxford OX1 1HY(office only) t:0800 098 8243

The online offering at www.evingtons-wines.co.uk is attractive and fairly easy to negotiate. On-line ordering is available, but although there are pictures of each bottle, most of the wines we looked at had no tasting notes or even a brief description – which is a shame when looking to try something unusual such as the Kindzmarauli from the Teliani Valley or trying to work out which of their Madeiras to choose.

Clearly the range offered is distinctive, but a more informative web site would help to generate more interest from elsewhere 0r to make a detour to their shop if stuck on the M1 motorway!

Tastings (advanced booking essential):

26 October 2011 – A worldwide selection of Rieslings

16 November 2011 – Syrah and Shiraz Revisited

UK Delivery= £11.95

Evingtons Wine Merchants, 120 Evington Road, Leicester LE2 1HH  t: t: 0116 254 2702

Speaking of the wines John Gordons owner Gordon Duff said; “I look to offer my customers something different, a little unusual.  With Moldovan wines I can recommend something new; they are decent, drinkable wines which have a fascinating history.  They have been overlooked for far too long”.

They also have a large range of rare and unusual Whisky, Cognac, Armagnac, Vintage port and Spirits, from from around the world. You will find selected wines from both the Old and New world. These are not big brand producers, but relatively small individual vineyards, who, along with meticulous wine making, produce wines full of terroir and individuality.
UK Delivery = £9.95 

Tastings offered

John Gordons Wine & Whisky Merchant/Bar – 11 Montpellier Arcade (in Montpellier Walk), Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1SU t: 01242 245985 

Turton Wines is looking to supply artisan wines from small vineyards to the public both locally and nationally. The supermarkets have done a great job of introducing some good wines to the nation and making wine drinking as popular as it is today. However supermarkets have to have huge quantities to fill their shelves nationwide and on some levels this is reducing the range of wines available to consumers. Our concept is to let people have a choice of some real small production wines which will never find themselves on off licence or supermarket shelves. These wines are produced with real skill and dedication in contrast to the bulk production wines people have become used to. With this in mind Turton Wines chooses its wines with great care. We decided to stock a range of Georgian wines as they are so different and earthy.

The list also includes wines from France, Australia, Italy, Spain and South Africa. Their Georgian wine selection comes from Gaumarjos and they feature an impressive 12 wines from the region, each with useful tasting notes and information.

In Tbilisi’s State Museum there is an 18th century BC silver funeral mug, elaborately embossed: on it you see a procession of deer, and a procession of men disguised as foxes, each bearing a cup, all testifying to the wine fertility-cults which flourished in Georgia in antiquity. Indeed, Georgians are now thought by archaeologists to have been the first people in the world to discover how wild grape juice turned into wine when it was left buried throughout the winter in a shallow pit: carbon-dating of grape-pips and examination of residues on pottery shows evidence of winemaking as long ago as 7000-5000 BC – a tradition which has continued unbroken ever since. Farmers still store wine in giant cone-shaped clay jars, buried in earth and topped with a wooden lid, as they did thousands of years ago. Some linguists believe our word ‘wine’ itself comes from the Georgian word ‘gvino’.

About forty varieties of grape are grown in Georgia, with rkatsiteli and saperavi being of central importance. The former is high in acidity, producing white wines of fine character. The latter produces full-bodied red wines which can age for up to fifty years; it is also used extensively for blending with other varieties. Mtsvane – ‘mtsvane’ is the Georgian word for ‘green’ – is another important variety, often blended with rkatsiteli to which it adds a fruity, aromatic balance

Traditional Georgian winemaking methods vary with the region. In Kakheti, in the East, fermentation of the grape juice takes place together with the pulp, grape-skins and pips. Satrepezo is made using this method. The pulp is put in clay jars or Kvevri, buried in the ground so that the temperature is kept constant. Other regions employ the European method, in which fermentation of pure grape-juice must takes place without the pulp.

Finally a nice little proverb on the Turton Wines site:The best use of bad wine is to drive away poor relations.
French proverb

UPDATE – Moldovan wines also included on the list (Feb 2011)
UK Delivery = £5.49

No Tastings offered

Turton Wines Limited 270 Darwen Road, Bromley Cross, Bolton BL7 9JG t: 07791 751 682