Georgia to auction Stalin’s 40,000-bottle wine collection
The Georgian government plans to sell a vast collection of rare wines once owned by Josef Stalin, with proceeds set to fund a new wine education school.
The Georgian government has unveiled plans to auction a collection of around 40,000 rare French and Georgian wines once owned by Soviet leader Josef Stalin, Reuters has reported.
The collection, housed in a cellar in the capital Tbilisi, was opened to the public for the first time this week. According to Reuters, some of the wines date back to the early 19th century.
Funds raised from the sale will be used to establish a wine education school in Georgia.
Putting Georgia on the collectors’ map
Irakli Gilauri, owner of Gilauri Wines, who worked with Georgia’s agriculture ministry on the project, told Reuters that the auction would help to “put Georgia on the collectors’ map”.
Georgia, which promotes itself as the birthplace of wine, points to archaeological evidence showing an uninterrupted winemaking tradition spanning 8,000 years.
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Stalin, who was born in Georgia and led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953, was an avid wine drinker and collector, Reuters reported.
The collection includes wines from some of Bordeaux’s most famous estates that were once owned by Tsar Alexander III and his son Nicholas II. Reuters reported that the Soviet authorities seized the Imperial Romanov collection following the 1917 Russian Revolution, with Stalin later adding his preferred Georgian wines to the cellar.
Historic opportunity
Among those given access to view the collection was wine collector Victor Chen, who travelled from Dallas, Texas.
Speaking to Reuters while examining the dust-covered bottles, Chen said: “I feel like you’re Indiana Jones opening up a cave: it could be nothing, it could be something.”
“There’s not many things that are still historical moments at this point. And this could be one of them.”
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