Thanks Alice! As always it is a pleasure to meet up!!

This is an important post. I have found this to be true even when I am with people who dismiss a bottle as faulty. and hour or two later the bottle is fine. I suppose we've all been taught that once opened bottles need to be consumeed RIGHT NOW or else.

I more or less print out every post you have on Georgia for my eventual trip there. Thanks you!! Sarah May

Wow.

This needs to shared far and wide! And I 100% agree with you about Paolo Bea wines. They are indeed iconic. But have you ever had Italy's greatest wine? they are no longer made by the prince, but honestly, Fiorano whites are the most wonderful wines that have ever existed and I am not the only one who thinks this. i drink them on my birthday every year. Why am I even sharing this in public?

This is such a great story!

The bottles is so ugly. The more you report, the more I learn and the more I realize how the world of wine is Frankenwine. I will stick with my contadino wines for now.

I have a Lazio wine like that. Constantly searching for it, feeling so lucky when I found it. Blissful. Sarah May

I can never understand why "they" care so much what type of wines other people like? My sister-in-law loves oaky jammy Tuscan type wines. I don't care. Sure I'd love for her to come to the other side, but I don't get angry. They get so angry that we like something different. Why? Sarah May

HI Alice thank you for the link. I also appreciate your responce to Mr. Joseph and your point, "This natural wine banner was only a banner for the past few years when consumers starting to love them and then press had to identify and discuss them. As a result they've become something for the market to consider." This would have been perfect in the powerpoints on that panel. On a side note, last night I was at I was at a Slovenian wne tasting here in Rome and luckily the winemakers were there. Usually at these events they have sommeliers in suits who don't really know much about the nature of the wine. Anyway, I was able to get the lowdown on many of the winemakers' philosophies. One stood out because when I asked him about his yeasts they sounded like this to me "Obi-Wan Kenobi" Also I agree that taste comes first.

I was at that "debate" and I was the last person to ask a question. My concern is and has always been about GMO yeast and our health and the environment. I felt that Dr. Ugliano was very helpful for a lot of people because he answers in a very straight forward manner. I went to one of his workshops by accident and it was the most informative of them all. I think people have gotten really overly concerned about the label of being a naturalist or not rather than what are the real issues. Why is there even a movement in the first place? I am concerned about loss of autochthonous grapes, I am concerned about GMO yeasts invading the entire planet and eventually mutating and working their way into other ecosystems. I am concerned about small famers losing their way of life because they can’t keep up with Big Agro, even in the wine world. I am concerned about the use of petro chemicals and I don’t want to drink wine that has been fined with animal blood. Everywhere in this world I feel that there is a constant onslaught of fake food, fake drinks fake everything. My hope is that one of the traditions that made humans civilized will not die out for the cause of greed and money. While conversations and debates are good, this one in particular had no answers and no point. I don’t believe that any of the 4 people on the panel had any idea about what the other panelists were going to talk about so it is was just 4 presentations, some people in the audience clearly irritating and nothing new was said. Sarah May www.tastingrome.blogspot.com

Great. I have been looking at their website for the past fews months. And I meant Armenia. There is a crumb under my R. Thanks you and congratulations on the translation.

Great post. I know you are a vegetarian, was it easy for you to travel in Georgia? I am planning on visiting next way for 2 weeks. Do you have a translator or guide you like to use? I don't want to rely on Lonely Planet. I am going on a wine journey. Hopefully stopping in Amenia for a few days.

As a vegetarian I don't think I would buy these wines, but the conceptis stillvery interesting.

Thank you for introducing us to these remarkable ladies.

That was not just a can of whoop ass you done served but a TANK full of whoop ass.

Yikes indeed. I never even thought about why there are so many out of control weeds. The word "deathspray" says it all.

Paolo Bea wines changed my life in a profound way. They are wines I have been searching for for so long. When people ask me what is your favorite wine it is no contest, the Paolo Bea Arboreus-Vino Bianco 2008 It was LUSCIOUS. I mean just pure nectar, but still off dry, fresh. Fruits, pears, bread, citrus, flowers, complexity I never thought possible in an Italian white wine. On the palate, explosions of flavors, slight maderization, similar to a good quality Madeira, and THAT COLOR, intense golden yellow, no hint at all of additives to make the color more brilliant. I felt like I tasted the hills, it was strongly mineral; it tasted like the heat of the Umbrian summer when the grapes are ripening. Ahhh, what can I say, this wine was a true wine moment for me, a true epiphany! For the first time I knew what an Umbrian flavor was. There was something mushroom, sunny, nothing green, pure summer and fall. Rich and intense long-lasting fruity and mineral finish. I am sad to read about the use of the name. It coud be confusing for a person not familiar with Bea's labels. They could take that wine instead because they may have read about Bea's wines and want to try them. www.tastingrome.blogspot.com

This vineyard makes me happy.