Unusual ways to make wine and their story - Qvevri

Inniskillin and its story

It appears to me that one of the most intriguing and characteristic aspects of Icewine is its production process, in particular the fact that the grapes are frozen prior to juice extraction. Inniskillin effectively used this feature to differentiate their product from more traditional wine.

Being a fan of blind tasting, and ultimately caring only about the taste of wine (if such a thing is possible), I was wondering how important was the role of the production process of Ice Wine in the marketing success of Inniskillin. In other words, could Inniskillin have achieved a similar success if their final product looked and tasted the same, but as a result of a traditional production process?

My answer would be no. It appears that it would have been a lot more difficult to tell an intriguing story to the consumer and to differentiate the product without the frozen grapes part.

Qvevri

This led me to wonder about what unusual and still not famous wine production technique could be used to obtain the next “Icewine”. As I was thinking about this, I happened to try a wine produced with a peculiar method that could be transformed into a significant communication campaign story.

Qvevri wine is a typical product of Georgia. It takes its name, “Qvevri”, from the large clay amphorae in which the wine is left to ferment after the grapes have been pressed. The grape juice is poured into the pots which are then sealed and buried beneath the ground where they are left for at least six months (but up to 5 or 6 years). After that time, the amphora is dug up and the wine is decanted and bottled. This method of making wine is historic and has even been recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage.

Is it an area in which differentiation is possible? Is it enough of a story to launch a new business out of?

The fact that this technique has been around for so long and not a lot of people have heard about it would leave me cautious. Differently from Icewine, which most people seem to like, Qvevri wine has a distinct taste (and smell), that may put off some drinkers. Out of the 40 people which tasted the wine with me, none of them liked it. So maybe the taste does play a role after all…

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvevri - Wikipedia page on Qvevri pots
http://www.gwa.ge/upload/file/qvevri_eng_Q.pdf - Document explaining Qvevri winemaking process
http://www.qvevriproject.org/products - Qvevri amphorae business in the US