Eric Asimov, an American wine critic and food critic for The New York Times published an article- “top 20 wines worth the search under $20“.  Even though Georgian wine is not (yet) as extolled in the United States as Italian or French wines,  Georgian dry-white “Rkatsiteli” still hit the list of top 20. The author selected the wines that are not easy to purchase in regular liquor stores but it is definitely worth going beyond these mundane places and discovering the wines that represent different cultures.

Along with Rkatsiteli the list comprised of Italian wine Malvasia, French- Beaujolais Nouveau, German Muskateller  and sixteen other tasty wines.

Asimov mentioned about Georgian wine:  “This unusual wine, made from the ancient rkatsiteli grape, comes from the republic of Georgia, a cradle of wine-making history. It is fermented and aged in a Qvevri, a traditional clay vessel lined with beeswax and buried in the earth. The result is a deep amber wine with a raspy texture, steely and full-bodied, with aromas and flavors of apples, herbs and nuts. (Terrell Wines, San Francisco)”

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/dining/20-wines-for-under-20-dollars.html?_r=0

The Estonian-Georgian movie, “Tangerines” (“Mandarinebi” in Georgian), has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 87th Academy Awards.

The movie takes place in 1992 during the war in Abkhazia, Georgia in a village, which is mostly inhabited by Estonians. The main protagonists have fled from war; they are injured fighters from two opposite sides of the struggle and happen to all be staying in the same house of an Estonian man. The main characters are played by Georgian actors Giorgi Nakashidze and Mikhail Meskhi and Estonian actors Lembit Ulfsak and Elmo Nuganen. The language of the movie is mostly Russian with Estonian and Georgian shortcuts.

The film was produced by a Georgian production company Cinema 24 and an Estonian film production company Allfilm .
The film was directed by a Georgian director Zaza Urushadze.
The movie was filmed in the region of Guria in Georgia.  It has been nineteen years since a Georgian movie” A Chef in Love” was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

View Tangerines Trailer

The other nominees for the Best Foreign Language Film:

“Ida” by Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland)

“Leviathan” by Andrey Zvyagintsev (Russia)

“Timbuktu” by Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania)

“Wild Tales” by Damián Szifrón (Argentina)