A rare collection of wines once belonging to Joseph Stalin is set to be auctioned by the Georgian government, after a long-sealed cellar was opened in Tbilisi this week.
Cobwebs hang from the ceiling in the dimly lit space, where a sweet aroma fills the air around what is considered one of Georgia’s most unusual wine treasures. The government owns around 40,000 rare French and Georgian bottles, some dating back to the early 19th century.
Authorities plan to sell the collection at auction and use the proceeds to establish a winemaking school in Georgia.
Irakli Gilauri, the owner of Gilauri Wines, who worked on the project with Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture, said the auction would help put Georgia “on the map for collectors”.
The South Caucasus country presents itself as the birthplace of wine, citing archaeological evidence of an 8,000-year tradition of winemaking.
Stalin, who was born in Georgia and led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, was known as a wine lover and collector.
The cellar includes bottles from some of Bordeaux’s most renowned vineyards, which once belonged to Russia’s Tsar Alexander III and his son, Nicholas II. The Soviet authorities seized the Romanov imperial collection after the Russian Revolution of 1917, with Stalin later becoming its custodian and gradually adding Georgian varieties.
Looking over the dusty bottles filled with amber-coloured wine, collector Victor Chen, who travelled to Tbilisi from Dallas, Texas, could not hide his excitement.
“I feel like Indiana Jones standing in front of a cave: it could be nothing, it could be something,” he said, referring to the film industry’s adventurous archaeologist.
“There are not many things that are still historic moments at this point in time. And this could be one of them.”
Source: AMNA
