Stories
Origins, grapes, and producers, small stories beyond the glass.
Stories · Croatia · Malvasia
On the Sistine scaffold, Michelangelo’s healing white was not Tuscan. Adriatic Malvasia still lives in today’s Istrian glass
Indifferent to food, Michelangelo cared about the quality of wine that restored him. The premium whites of Florence and Rome often came across the Adriatic via Venice. That line lives on as Istarska Malvazija.
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Stories · Georgia · Qvevri
One hundred eighty-five qvevri in a cliff. Queen Tamar’s wine at Vardzia and the cup that toasted victory at Shamkor, 1195
As Seljuk armies pressed from the south, George III and Queen Tamar carved Vardzia into the cliff, a cave city with 185 qvevri in its marani, wine as sacred sustenance under siege. Barefoot at prayer, then victory at Shamkor in 1195.
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Stories · Ancient Greece · Macedon
Civilized Greeks diluted their wine: Alexander drank it straight, killed a friend, and buried forty-one soldiers in one toast
Fourth-century Athens diluted wine to stay civil. Macedon drank it straight, akratos as proof of manhood. Alexander’s cup carried Dionysus, the murder of Cleitus, and a contest that killed forty-one men before he died at thirty-two.
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Stories · Canary Islands · American Revolution
America’s revolution was paid in Canary wine, not gold, smuggling, forged papers, and Robert Morris
When Continental paper money collapsed, Canary Malvasia crossed the Atlantic as liquid currency, smuggled past the blockade to buy guns, powder, and blankets.
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