Historical Georgia, the “cradle of wine”, calls on the Edmund Mach Foundation

Georgia is considered one of the cradles of viticulture and oenology, where what is considered today to be the oldest winery in the world, dating back 8.000 years was found in its territory. The Mach Foundation, on the other hand, is one of the top European research institutions in the agricultural and wine sector. Now, they might be working together on a project that has all the charm of ancient history as well as the flavor of modernity. Georgia has called on the Edmund Mach Foundation in San Michele all'Adige to provide technical-scientific support to re-launch the training and technology transfer activities in their wine sector.

The request arrived at the Institute located in Trentino directly from the Government of Tblisi, and it had been developed and formalized during the meeting between the general director of the Foundation, Mario Del Grosso Destreri, the director of the Technology Transfer Center, Claudio Ioriatti, together with the Minister of the Environment and Agriculture of Georgia, Levan Davitashvili, and Deputy Minister of Education Tamar Kitiashvili, who also visited the agricultural research center, the University of Wine and the professional training center, along with a few wine producers.

The territory is famous for kwevri, i.e., the terracotta pots that are buried underground and used for the fermentation and conservation of wine. There is also a University of Viticulture and a respectable vocational training school. They have specifically requested collaboration to activate a path of studies using the same methods as the San Michele course for wine technicians, which is highly appreciated in many regions around the world. They also aspire to building a general development project that will improve the consultancy service for small wine producers. This is the reason why the request provides for the involvement of the Technology Transfer Center. San Michele is carefully evaluating the request, primarily because of the mutual interest in research and in supporting the development of the wine sector.