(AFP) - Sipping ruby-red Saperavi wine at his factory in eastern Georgia, Donato Lanati launched into a fervent ode to the ex-Soviet republic's ancient wine-making traditions. "Georgia is the birthplace of wine. It has millennia-long tradition of wine-making, but its excellent wines are an absolutely new discovery," outside the former Soviet Union, Lanati, an Italian who is chief wine-maker at the Badagoni Wine Company, told wine experts gathered from around the world. A mountainous republic on the Black Sea, Georgia is considered by many experts as the cradle of wine-making. Archaeological finds suggest viniculture may have begun here as early as 8,000 years ago, long before it reached western Europe