Kakheti

If you've happened to fall in love with Georgian wine and you would like to treat yourself to one of the truest expressions - you should definitely give Shota's wines a try. Not for the faint of heart, both his Rkatisteli and Mtsvane see 6 months on skins and a whole year in qvevri. This means lots of structure and complexity, but there is also a gentleness and elegance behind the seemingly thundrous first impression. Shota is just 26 years old, but he cares deeply about the Georgian landscape, traditions and especially the agricultural side of things.

You wouldn't believe it if you didn't know it, but Niki used to be a night club owner! His extremely gentle and kindhearted spirit just doesn't seem to match the title very well. When it comes to his wines, it's a very different story. Fairly short time on skins but long time in the qvevri makes them gentle, but also very deep and complex. Niki himself is mostly quiet and peaceful, but of course - no one knows for sure what is happening underneath that gentle smile...

No one ever showed Aleqsi how to make wine. Although Aleqsi's father had made wine, he died when Aleqsi was a child, and so he had to teach himself.
Aleqsi wanted to produce wine and in 1996 he got 2ha land from the government. In 2010 he started selling his wines abroad.
Today Aleqsi owns 7 big Qvevri in which he produces 3 different cuvées from 3 different grapes: Jghia, Mtsvane and Rkatseteli.
He produces all of his wine completly organically and from old Georgian traditions, only using bordeaux- and nettle solutions

Ketevan, daughter of winemaker Kakha Berishvili, made her first vintage in the family cellar in 2015 under the name GoGo wines.
The small family vineyards are located in the Naprauli zone in the Kakheti region of Georgia.
Grapes are farmed entirely with the use of biodynamic preparates and transported by horse from the vineyards to the cellar.
Ketevan’s first vintage was a juicy rosé made with the local grape varieties of Rkatsiteli and Saperavi, and she has since made a few more single variety wines.

Soliko Tsaishivili has been producing wine in the Bakurtsikhe Gurjaani district of Kakheti since 2005.
Soliko believes that if you want to drink good wine, you need to produce it yourself. So that’s exactly what he does.
He makes wine according to ancient Georgian tradition, which means that all of his wines are fermented and aged in Qvevri, big clay vessels buried under ground. His big 2000L Qvevries are kept in his basement, which he dug out himself.
Soliko’s wines are alive, constantly changing, and some of the most authentic Georgian wine you will come across.

In the small town of Signaghi, in the Kakheti region of eastern Georgia, lies a small family-owned winery.
John Okruashvili grew up with John Wurdemann’s wife Ketevan (Pheasant’s Tears winery) and since 2009 he has been bottling his own wine under the name Okro’s Wine. Like many other producers in Georgia, the focus of winemaking lies in the passion for ancient winemaking rituals.
This includes fermentation in Qvevri and several monts of skin maceration.

A fellow vigneron to 'Our Wine' in prime terroirs Tsarapi and Akhoebi in Kakheti, Nika Bakhia started with a tiny parcel of Saperavi and an old abandoned wine cellar in 2006, and he now vinifies over 6ha, 4ha of which is black Saperavi and 2ha of which is Rkatsiteli, Tavkveri, Khikhvi and Kakhuri Mtsvane. The wines ferment with indigenous yeasts and are then left on their skins for 7 months in 1200L qvevri, before being racked into a 700L qvevri for a further 17 months.

Amiran Vepkhvadze, half attorney, half vigneron, inherited a few vines in Zestaphoni, part of the Imereti region in Western Georgia. The vines are Otskhanuri Sapere, a rare, indigenous varietal to the region. Each year Amiran sold his precious grapes to the local winery, and each year the amount he was paid decreased. Eventually Amiran decided to make his own wine, and little by little he expanded his vineyards. The vines are trained in overhead pergola style to protect them from the humidity of the sub-tropical climate.

Two of the main catalysts of the modern Georgian wine movement, John Wurdeman and Gela Patalishvili, joined forces in the most unusual, but serendipitous way. John, an American painter had moved to Georgia after falling in love with the spirit of the land whilst travelling from Moscow. He took a job painting the fences at a local vineyard when he was approached by a Gela, a 7th generation vigneron, who was convinced John was the man to help bring the traditional style of Georgian wine to the world. John was hesistant, but Gela persisted.