Chvitiluri
Chvitiluri – is an indigenous white grapevine variety of Samegrelo, used for making high quality wine.
In specific literature (4, 6, 12), as well as among the local population, it is known by the names Chvitilouri and Chkvitiluri. We have no written accounts about the origin of Chvitiluri. Acad. Iv. Javakhishvili and Er. Nakashidze briefly describe Chvitiluri without mentioning its distribution area, while Prof. S. Cholokashvili describes it more subtly (6).
Based on long-term observations, Chvitiluri, with its morphological and agro-biological features, should be classified as one of the ancient grapevine varieties coming from Ponto. This is a typical representative of the grapevine family of Kolkheti, developed through natural selection. Chvitiludri shares all the specific characteristics of grapevine varieties of Kolkheti, such as the growing of the sprout, coloring, coating, thickness of the leaf, type of flower, the structure of bunches and berries, consistency and thickness of the skin, strength of growth, and duration of the vegetation and late ripening of the grape.
There is no description of any grapevine variety similar to Chvitiluri in existing ampelographic works. Old low vineyards of Chvitiluri are found only in the mountainous zone of Samegrelo and not in any other districts of Georgia.
Based on oral narratives, Chvitiluri was widely distributed in the mountainous districts of Samegrelo (in Tsalenjikha, Kortskheli, Nakifu, Chkhorotsku, Sachino, Fotskho, Ushafati, Mukhuri, Gegechkori, Kitsia, Tamakoni, Salkhino, and in other adjacent districts). As many other local grapevine varieties, it was cultivated on its own root, formed as a high vineyard. However, such vineyards needed the dedication of much work and effort from people, who could not always maintain this properly and so used to abandon the vineyards, leaving them un-cared for with only an insufficient pruning of the bunches once every three or four years. In spite of such primitive care, vines of Chvitiluri were distinguished by strong growth and development, as well as high productivity. The local population used it for making the famous wine: Chvitiluri Wine- known not only in Samegrelo but also in the entire Western Georgia. It is supposed that it was well transportable and its wine kept its best values for a long time.
After the spread of fungal diseases and phylloxera, high vineyarsd of Chvitiluri were massively destroyed. Only a few vines remain in Tsalenjikha, Tskhakaia, and Gegechkori districts, but they are much degraded; characterized with low quality production. Some grafts of Chvitiluri formed as low vineyards can be found in Tsalenjikha, Zugdidi and Gegechkori, wherein they are characterized by quite strong growth and high quality. Outside Samegrelo, presently, grafts of Chvitiluri are cultivated in collections: in the village Bombori (Gudauti), Sakare (Zestafoni district), Mukhrani (Mtskheta), in Dighomi (the suburb of Tbilisi) and in Telavi. Since Chvitiluri is a late grapevine variety it is not appropriate for Eastern Georgia (Mukhrani and Telavi) as it cannot express all its best characteristics completely; an under-ripened grape makes its production invaluable; while in Gudauti it succeeds in growing and provides high productivity which can be explained by the similarity of these two zones in their ecological conditions.
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Botanical description
Chvitiluri was described in the village of Nakifu, in Tsalenjikha district wherein the vines are grafted on Riparia X Rupestri 3309, supported by stakes and formed by Georgian rule; and for comparison it was also described in the village of Fotskho, where the vines are cultivated with their own roots and formed as high vineyards.
The young shoot
The cone of growth is completely covered with a grayish-white, hairy thick felt-like coating. The first leaf is covered on the topside with thick felt-like grayish-white down. On the underside, the leaf is covered with grayish down and is often reddish. The following second young leaf is slightly reddish on the topside, covered with a quite thick grayish-white coating; the underside is covered with a thick felt-like grayish-white coating. The third young leaf is covered with grayish down, particularly along the veins. On the underside it is covered with thick felt-like white-grayish hairy down.
The young shoot is bright green, with reddish violet lines and covered intensively with white-grayish hairy down near to the tip. During the blossom period, sprouts lengthen and keep long distances between the axils. Also, the tips of Chvitiluri shoots are more noticeable with an intensive white coating than other grapevine varieties.
The one year sprout
The mature sprout is dark reddish. The axils are distanced by 7-14cm from each other, and are darker in coloring.
The leaf
Leaves are middle-sized, roundish or slightly oval, slightly lobed, or, rarely, significantly lobed leaves can be found. The leaf is 17.0cm long and 16.8cm wide.
The incision of the petiole is mostly similar to a wide arrow, has roundish basis and symmetrical margins, while acute-angled, and lyre-shaped incisions can also be found.
The upper incision is slightly cut or has quite a cut angle. The lower incision is lightly expressed.
The leaf is three-lobed; the margin of the tip creates a right angle to the blade, rarely obtuse.
The teeth of margin tips are triangular, with equal sides and sharp tips, or triangular convex sides and rounded tips. The secondary teeth are triangular, with convex sides and slightly sharp tips, while saw-like teeth can also be found. The underside of the leaf is covered with grayish down. The topside is often wrinkled like a net, rarely smooth. The blade is flat and bright green. The proportion of the length of petiole to the middle major vein is 0.6 - 0.8. This is bare and bright green, becoming violet to the basis.
The flower
Flowers are hermaphroditic, with normally developed stamens and pistil. There are 5 stamens, rarely 4, in a flower; in an inflorescence there are about 80 -150 flowers.
The bunch
The pedicel of a bunch is 4 - 7cm long. The bunch is 8 - 14 cm long and 5 -7cm wide. The pedicel of the bunch together with the scion is grass-like and bright green.
The bunch is cylindrical, rarely cone-cylindrical and is quite dense.
The grain
The pedicel of the grain, including the receptacle, is 3.5 - 5cm long, and is brown. The receptacle is wrinkled and wide cone-shaped. The berry is tightly connected to it.
The berry is yellowish amber-colored, middle-sized and roundish, 12 - 15mm long and 12.1 - 15.2mm wide; in the middle it is wide, and it has a rounded end and is symmetrical. With quite thick skin, it is juicy and fleshy and has a pleasant, sweet taste. The skin is easily separable from the flesh and is covered with lightly expressed wax-like spots.
The seed
There are 1 - 4 seeds in a grain, often two. Seeds are about 6.5 - 7mm long and 3.5 - 4mm wide. The seed is bright brown and yellowish to the inside; the basis is placed to the back in the middle part; is roundish and slightly expressed. The tip is 1.5 - 2 mm long.
Agro-biological description
Observations of the vegetation period of Chvitiluri were conducted in the villages of Nakifu (Tsalenjikha) and Fotskho (Tskhakaia district). Below are given the mean results of phenomenological observations (see Table 1).
In Nakifu village, in the low vineyard of Chvitiluri, the awakening of the vine begins from the end of March. The break of buds takes place in the first half of April and first signs of blossom appear from the end of May and, in suitable weather conditions, lasts until 12 June. The ripening of the grape begins from 20 - 25 August, while mass grape-ripening occurs towards the end of October. Therefore, the entire vegetation period of Chvitiluri takes up 197 - 199 days. The leaf-fall begins in the middle of November and ends at the beginning of December.
In Fotskho village, in high vineyards of Chvitiluri, biological phases follow similar time periods, but the leaf- fall happens early as a result of the influence of fungal diseases.
The growth of the vine and the ripening of its vegetative parts
In the mountainous villages of Samegrelo, Chvitiluri is characterized with strong growth and is distinguished by specifically stronger growth- during the blossom period -than other grapevine varieties, and develops long sprouts which can be 2 - 2.5, long by the end of vegetation. High vineyards of Chvitiluri are characterized by lower than middle growth, determined by lack of care and phylloxera.
In Tsalenjikha, due to excessive warmth, the vegetation period of Chvitiluri lasts longer, however the green parts of the vine are capable of ripening to the full ripeness of the grape.
A similar situation is shown in the mountainous villages of Tskhakaia, but uncultivated, uncared for high vineyards with their vegetative parts suffer from fungal diseases. For this reason, leaves fall early and sprouts, particularly their topside parts, do not reach maturity, and can be killed by winter frosts.
The productivity
High vineyards of Chvitiluri are characterized with low productivity; however, this varies depending on weather conditions. In comparison with low vineyards, they are characterized with thinner bunches.
Below is shown the productivity characteristics of Chvitiluri as indicated in the villages of Nakifu and Fotskho (see Table 2).
As Table 2 indicates, on vines of Chvitiluri cultivated in low vineyards and loaded with 10 - 12 buds, 2.5 - 3kg of grape is produced; 2 or 3 equal bunches develop on a sprout; the coefficient of productivity is 2 - 2.3: 100 – 120 centners per hectare. The productivity of high vineyards is lower; in suitable weather conditions being 25 - 30kg per vine, i.e. 30 - 40 centners per hectare. The sprouts generated from the old parts of the vine are generally unproductive. Flower-fall of is less characteristic (2 - 4) for this grapevine variety; while small berries on a bunch constitute 6% as they ripen together with normal berries and often do not contain seeds.
Resistance to fungal diseases and pests
In the warm and moist ecological conditions of Samegrelo, Chvitiluri is very sensitive to fungal diseases- especially to downy mildew, for which it requires 1 or 2 additional administrations of fungicide after blossoming and during the generation of berries.
Response to the environment
Chvitiluri is a strongly growing and very productive grapevine variety, especially in deep-strong soils (in Zugdidi), while in hillside and stony places its growth is retarded, but its production is characterized with a specifically good taste, tenderness and harmony. It is such places (Tsalenjikha, Nakifu, Chkhorotsku, Fotskho, Ushafat) that propagated the fame of Chvitiluri wine. Consequently, it is clear that Chvitiluri should be cultivated in the mountainous villages of Samegrelo, in southern and south-eastern sunny places.
Similar to other local grapevine varieties, Chvitiluri is also very resistant to winter frosts. As previously noted, the sprouts of Chvitiluri cannot fully ripening in high vineyards. These immature parts can be easily damaged by the influence of winter frosts.
Low vineyards of Chvitiluri, if properly nurtured, are very productive; however, it can be improved even more by selecting more optimal forming. Chvitiluri is a strongly growing grapevine variety consisting of more than 80% productive sprouts per vine. It would be reasonable to form it by two-sided cordon (20 - 24 bud loading) and also two-sided short cordon, with two forming rings on each side. In order to maintain the normal growth and development of the vine and its high productivity, and to overcome the influence of fungal diseases, wire should be used to support the vines; this procedure will assist in making the working process easier and more successful.
Agro-technical characteristics
The grape samples for mechanical-chemical analysis were taken from the villages of Nakifu (Tsalenjikha district) and Fotskho (Tskhakaia). The results of mechanical analysis are shown in Table 3.
As Table 3 indicates, there is no significant distinctness identifiable among the given samples. In high vineyards, Chvitiluri is characterized with comparatively low-weight bunches (90g). A bunch consists of 95.8 - 96.5% berries, 3.2 - 3.6% shoot, 14.4 - 14.8% skin, 5.2 - 5.7% seed, and 77.4 - 78.5% juice. Thus, the outcome of Chitiluri grape juice is quite satisfactory from a wine grapevine variety. The weight of 100 berries is 155 - 158g. There are 183 seeds, weighing 8g, in 100 berries. The weight of 100 seeds is 4.2 - 4.5g. Grains containing one seed make up 37%, two seeds – 43%, three seeds – 16%, four-seeds – 3%, while 1% of berries are seedless.
As Table 4 indicates, within the full ripening period, the grape of Chvitiluri consists of 20 - 21.8% sugar and 8.1 - 8.9% acidity- quite a satisfactory proportion for making quality table wine.
In 1939 and 1940, in Nakifu village (Tsalenjikha district) exemplary wines were made by agr. I. Malashkhia. The results of the chemical analysis of these wines are given below (see Table 5).
As Table 5 indicates, both samples of Chvitiluri wine are characterized with a normal level of alcohol (10.8 - 11.7) and general acidity (7.1 - 7.6%). The scarcity of the volatile acids (0.55 - 0.60) shows the soundness of the wine. Also, the concentration of extract and PH should be considered as normal. The low characteristics of sugar (0.380 - 0.450) indicates normal fermenting of the wine.
Both samples of Chvitiluri wine received high estimation in tasting and were described as being harmonious, pleasant, characterized with a good aroma and normal level of alcohol.
In addition to high taste qualities, the wine of Chvitiluri is well-adaptable to long storage and is transportable.
Grapes left on the vine can be kept for a long time without rotting. According to oral accounts, this was quite common practice in the past; people left the grape on the vine and picked when they wanted until December - January.
General evaluation and distribution by district
Chvitiluri is a highly prospective white grapevine variety of Samegrelo. With its taste characteristics, it belongs to the group of grapevine varieties of Georgia dedicated to quality table wine. In addition to the high qualities of its production, Chvitiluri is also very interesting, with strong growth and development, high productivity and a good outcome of juice.
The negative characteristics of this grapevine variety are its low resistance to fungal diseases and phylloxera. However, these weaknesses can be successfully eliminated in modern viticulture through certain agricultural activities– by the additional administration of fungicide / pesticide to the vines and by grafting.
In the mountainous districts of Samegrelo, in order to develop viticulture as one of the important agricultural branches, such an ancient grapevine variety as Chvitiluri should be used, which has adapted to the environment of Samegrelo through the centuries. Here, Chvitiluri should be distributed widely and cultivated by using phylloxera- resistant grafts.
Bibliography
1. Demetradze V., Materials for Dividing Western Georgian Viticulture and Enology Industry into Regions and Specialization. Kutaisi, 1936.
2. Ketskhoveli N., Zones of Cultural Plants in Georgia. Tbilisi, 1957.
3. Mirotadze A. Vine Varieties of Racha-Lechkhumi. Tbilisi, 1939.
4. Ramishvili M. Vine varieties of Guria, Samegrelo and Adjara, Tbilili, 1948.
5. Tabidze D., Development of Viticulture in Georgia. Tbilisi, 1941.
6. Cholokhashvili S., Guide Book for Viticulture. Book II, Amphelography. Tbilisi, 1938.
7. Sharden J. Trip too Georgia. Tbilisi, 1935.
