Ivane Apkhazi - Country of Liquid Sun
Wednesday, April 22
There is some surviving information about Ivane Abkhazi, son of Dimitri (1863-1921), who lived in Tbilisi and worked in the position of the Councilor of State. His wife was Mariam Kartsivadze who bore him twin daughters, Marian and Salome. Information related to Ivane Abkhazi's family and ancestors is very few because his wife, fearing repressions, burned all of the writings and documents belonging to her husband and his ancestors as well as destroying all of the photographs and everything else that was available. It is hard to reproach her for these actions as the great Ilia Chavchavadze's nephew, Kote Abkhazi, was also shot at that time with her brother Nikoloz Kartsivadze, alongside a great many other nobles, also sharing his fate in Tbilisi.
The ancestors of Ivane Abkhazi's father Dimitri were Abkhazian princes who carried the surname Anchabadze, One of the ancestors, Giorgi Anchabadze, came with Mariam, the wife of King Rostom, as a wedding marriage gift portion. In 1653, the King married him to David Gushparishvili's orphaned daughter and granted him his father-in-law David's estates. According to other information, Ivane Abkhazi's great-grandfather, Iovane Abkhazi, was in charge of arranging the banquets at the royal court.
The wines made by Dimitri's father Ivane, in the village of Kardenakhi in Kakheti, were famous in Georgia in the nineteenth century. In 1839-1845, these wines participated in international wine exhibitions where they were awarded prizes.
According to stories, Ivane was a great Russophile whose house and vineyards were torched when the rebels failed to recruit him to support the rebellion. Ivane and Dimitri Abkhazi had famous and beautiful estates and unique wine cellars in the villages of Kardenakhi and Vejini in the province of Sighnaghi. Prince Abkhazi had wine cellar outlet in Tbilisi, near the Molokan marketplace, where Kakhetian wines, which were made in the Prince's es- tates, were sold with success. This cellar, together with the estates and wine cellars of Prince Abkhazi, were later bought by Earl Sheremetev who renamed it "Kardenakhi" although people still associated it with the name of Prince Abkhazi.
The old wine cellar was located in the middle of tall-growing bushes. The new wine cellar was in the middle of an oak grove and was constructed upon the order of Dimitri Abkhazi with the plans having been developed by the Prince himself. He ordered that the cellar be cut into the rock. During the same period, he had vineyards on 21 hectares and followed wine making with a serious interest. According to stories, many unpleasant adventures happened to Dimitri Abkhazi during this period. Once, when he had just started his business, he was taking a large amount of money to pass to the Treasury. Unfortunately, his carriage overturned in high water and was swept away together with the money. Saved but bankrupted by the accident, Dimitri was forced to sell his estate to a wealthy man of Tatar origin named Ajia who bought his estates, vineyards and wine cellars and decided to cut down the vines and plant tobacco plantations instead. On learning of the news, Dimitri Abkhazi's cousins put some pressure upon the man and managed to make him sell the estates to Earl Sergei Sheremetev.
Sheremetev entrusted the economic activities of his newly purchased Kardenakhi estate to Pavel Averkin. One can hear the surname of this man, often in disfigured forms such as Avakin, amongst others, from Kardenakhian peasants even to this day. In Kardenakhi, Sherevetev built a palace on the top of a hill with a forest-park surrounding it as well as a wine cellar, cut into the rock by Dimitri Abkhazi, where 40-50 tons of grapes could be processed in the traditional Kakhetian way. In addition to the kvevris, large oak barrels also were placed in the wine cellar.
For a long time, this wine cellar was still referred to as Prince Abkhazi's wine cellar. On the whole, Earl Sheremetev's vineyards occupied 25 hectares in Kardenakhi and six hectares in Vejini. The vineyards were planted amongst high-growing bushes, cut forests and at the foot of Tsiv- Gombori Mountain along slightly declining slopes below the oak grove.
Baron Joseph de Bay wrote with enthusiasm about the Kardenakhi farm and its famous wine cellar and how grapes were harvested and wine was made in his book, In Georgia, which was published in 1898.
After Georgia became a Soviet Republic, the breathtaking Kardenakhi vineyards were pronounced to be the people's ownership. A man by the name of Khuchua was appointed as the manager of the estate with Earl Sherevmetev's butler, Averkin, handing over the vineyards and wine cellars. At a later time, the "Kakheti" Association was established whose composition also included the Kardenakhi.
