Portrait of Georgian winemaker, Iago Bitarishvili
Portrait of Georgian winemaker Iago Bitarishvili. Click to enlarge. Copyright Campbell Mattinson.
It would be hard to find an individual who has had more influence over the fortunes of a nation’s wines than Georgian winemaker Iago Bitarishvili. He has, in many ways, both introduced and then carried Georgian wine in general into the hearts and minds of wine lovers the world over. He’s done this by making great, single-minded, single-vineyard wines – as deep in character and in tradition as they are in flavour – as a starting point, but also by being the first vigneron in his country to be certified organic in both the vineyard and in the winery, and then by taking his wines into the lap of the world. One hundred percent of Iago’s production is exported.
Iago’s vineyard, it’s worth pointing out, is only two hectares in size. It’s a garden vineyard, planted to 60-year-old chinuri vines. It has been suggested to Iago many times that he could increase the size of his vineyard, and therefore of his production, and that there’d be a willing market for the extra. His response? “It’s enough work already, I think.”
All of Iago’s wines are fermented and matured in buried qvevri. He makes a ‘no skin contact’ chinuri (which is still matured in buried qvevri) but in general his (white) wines include skins, stems, juice and all. Iago believes that the inclusion of skins and stems in the qvevri is important, not least because the “cap” of the ferment then sinks more more slowly through the juice of the wine – over the course of its five to seven months of maturation. “I don’t just include skins and stems for the sake of tradition,” he says.
“I always say that we mature our wines for five or six months but in 2023 it was seven months, so sometimes it’s seven. Why seven in 2023? It depends on the season, on the temperature. In 2023 there was still snow outside, so it wasn’t time to open (the qvevri).”
Iago never blends his qvevri; they are bottled (and usually numbered) separately. “The qvevri are different sizes, different microflora, different temperatures.”
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About the photos here
I visited Iago Bitarishvili at his cellar near the village of Mtskheta in the Kartli region of Georgia. I was on a trade/media trip and there were many wines (both Iago’s and five other producers) to taste through, plus of course a generous supply of cheese, fruits and breads to enjoy. The people of Georgia are nothing if not great hosts. I had probably two-minutes to problem-solve the situation and see what kind of photograph I could conjure. Iago himself is photogenic but it was the middle of the day and there were lots of people around; isolating Iago in both space and light took a bit of thought.
My first instinct was to silhouette him. Silhouetting is one of the easiest photographic techniques but in general I’m terrible at it, courtesy of the fact that I’m a slave to exposure and detail. I put the camera on burst and took about 20 shots in a hurry, and as I did I said to Iago, “I’m currently doing everything wrong, in the hope that I fluke something,” which made him smile. Here are two examples of these silhouetted shots, colour and black & white.
Silhouette portrait of Georgian winemaker Iago Bitarishvili. Copyright Campbell Mattinson.
Winemaker Iago Bitarishvili. Click to enlarge. Copyright Campbell Mattinson.
I then asked if we could go into his cellar. He unlocked the door and turned on the lights, but I asked him if all lights could remain off. I then asked if we could slither the front door of the cellar open a fraction, so that we could work with the shaft of light created. This created this:
Portrait of Georgian winemaker Iago Bitarishvili in his cellar. Image copyright Campbell Mattinson.
And then I just stepped in closer and tried to really highlight the magic of Iago’s eyes.
For the record I was using a 24mm f1.4 lens for all these shots which, I know, is not ideal for portraits but nonetheless I used it deliberately.
Georgian winemaker Iago Bitarishvili. Click to enlarge. Copyright Campbell Mattinson.
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Iago reviews here.
