Wine contest in Georgia to reveal world’s best Saperavi wine

Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi is preparing to host the first Saperavi World Prize competition, inviting samples from Saperavi wine producers from around the globe to join the wine contest.

Saperavi World Prize is conceived to become not only a wine contest of Saperavi wines produced on all continents, but a meeting point of international winemakers and Georgian tradition-keepers, backed by an eight millennia-old winemaking history of Georgia – the cradle of wine.

The contest, which will become annual, is initiated and organised by wine news publisher Hvino News - the world’s primary news and information resource on Georgian wine - with official support of Georgian National Wine Agency.

Saperavi, the "signature” Georgian grape variety, is becoming increasingly popular with winemakers around the world. Saperavi wines are produced in the United States, Europe, former Soviet republics, and even New Zealand, but it is Australia where this Georgian variety has become especially widespread,” said the event organisers.

For the first time the Saperavi wines produced in all these countries will be judged in Georgia, by an international jury involving top experts in Saperavi winemaking.

It was not easy task to identify all the world's wineries which produce Saperavi, and it required a lot of research. But, once we contacted them, we were happy to see the enthusiasm of winemakers excited about our initiative. One of the winemakers has shortened "Saperavi World Prize” to "SapPrize" and we decided to keep the catchy name,” said Inge Olsson of Hvino News.

While the list of participants is almost complete, the entry is still open for wineries from outside Georgia who produce Saperavi. Participation in the contest is free for winemakers thanks to support of corporate sponsors – Georgian and international companies interested in raising awareness of their brands on international level.

It seems our project came at the right moment, as it was welcomed by everybody: not only winemakers, but also the sponsors, and the mass media. That's very important for us, as the attention of the leading world press helps to reach [our] main goal - make Georgia and its culture become better known and more popular in the world,” Olsson said.

The top award of Saperavi World Prize will be a miniature gold azarpesha, which is an elegant wine vessel with long handles, made of silver or gold. These richly decorated objects are now rare antique collectibles.