Qvevri (Georgian Wine Vessel)
The qvevri is the great egg-shaped earthenware vessel of Georgia in which wine is fermented and aged, buried up to its neck in the floor of the marani, the wine cellar, so that only the clay rim and lid rise above the ground. Grape must, skins and stems all go into the qvevri and rest there for months, the cool earth holding a steady temperature, which gives amber wines their tannic, textured character and the method its special place in winemaking. Potters coil the vessels by hand from local clay, line them with beeswax and fire them without glaze; archaeological finds from the Shulaveri-Shom