GEORGIA

This may be the place where grapes were first trodden and where humans discovered the joys of wine. For Georgians, as for the ancient Greeks, the banquet—called a keipi—is an art form in itself. Every keipi has a tamada, or toastmaster. Custom has changed little since Homer’s time, and winemaking has changed even less since prehistoric times. A Greek or Roman would call a kwevri a pithos or dolium: vessels in which the wine of the ancient world fermented.