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Georgia opens secret Tbilisi wine cellar of 40000 rare bottles tied to Josef Stalin and Russian Tsars, plans auction to fund a wine education and research school
Stalin, who was born in Georgia and ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953, later became the custodian of the collection and reportedly added his preferred Georgian wines to the vault. (AI Image)
The Georgian government has opened a secret underground wine cellar in Tbilisi containing nearly 40,000 rare bottles once linked to Soviet leader Josef Stalin, with plans to auction part of the collection to fund a wine education school.
The cellar, opened to the public for the first time this week, contains French and Georgian wines, including bottles dating back to the early 19th century.
Officials said the collection includes rare Bordeaux wines and bottles that once belonged to Russian Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II before being seized by Soviet authorities after the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Collector Victor Chen, who travelled to Tbilisi from Dallas, Texas said he was excited by what he saw. “I feel like you’re Indiana Jones opening up a cave: it could be nothing, it could be something,” he said, referring to the fictional swashbuckling archaeologist from the film franchise, reported Reuters.
“There’s not many things that are still historical moments at this point. And this could be one of them,” he added.
Stalin, who was born in Georgia and ruled the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953, later became the custodian of the collection and reportedly added his preferred Georgian wines to the vault. The collection remained preserved for decades in a damp underground cellar under state ownership.
Georgia’s government said the auction proceeds will be used to establish a wine education and research school in the country, which promotes itself as one of the world’s oldest wine-producing regions with an 8,000-year winemaking history.
Wine experts associated with the project said the auction could help place Georgia more prominently on the global rare wine collectors’ map. The unveiling of the cellar has also revived international interest in the history of Stalin’s hidden wine collection, which has been the subject of books and investigations for years.
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