Wine region
Kakheti
Kakheti in eastern Georgia: the cradle of wine, buried qvevri clay vessels, Saperavi and Rkatsiteli, amber wine, UNESCO heritage since 2013.
- Importance
- Georgia’s main wine region, with the largest share of the country’s vines and grape harvest
- Main grapes
- Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Kisi (white); Saperavi (red)
- Setting and climate
- Alazani valley between the Greater Caucasus and the Gombori range; vines mostly at 400 to 700 metres
- Signature wines
- qvevri amber wine, Tsinandali (white), Mukuzani (red), Kindzmarauli (semi-sweet red)
- Landmark
- the qvevri: UNESCO intangible heritage since 2013, traces of wine about 8,000 years old
Kakheti lies in eastern Georgia, in the valley of the Alazani, between the Greater Caucasus to the north and the Gombori range to the south. It is the country’s main wine region; the largest share of Georgia’s vines and grape harvest comes from here. The vines mostly stand at 400 to 700 metres, the summers are warm and the winters can be cold. Georgia is called the “cradle of wine”: in clay jars from the Neolithic, about 8,000 years old and found not far from Tbilisi, researchers detected residues of grape wine in 2017, the oldest traces known so far. Several hundred native grape varieties stand on this tradition.
The heart of Kakhetian cellar work is the qvevri: an egg-shaped clay vessel, lined inside with beeswax, which is buried in the floor of the cellar. Freshly pressed juice goes in together with skins, stems and pips, the vessel is sealed, and the wine ferments there for around five to six months. The earth keeps the temperature even without refrigeration. In 2013 UNESCO added Georgian qvevri winemaking to its list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The knowledge is passed on within families, and the wine cellar is still regarded as the holiest place in the home.
White grapes made this way give amber wine: Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane or Kisi ferment like a red, with skins, stems and pips, and gain a colour from amber to orange, tannin and structure. The Kakhetian method is the most pronounced; in the west of the country, in Imereti, the wine stays on the skins for less time. Rkatsiteli, literally “red stem”, is the main white variety and keeps plenty of acidity. Among the reds, Saperavi leads; its name means roughly “to give colour”: it is a teinturier with red flesh that gives very dark, high-acid wines able to age for a long time, and it is considered frost-hardy. In Italy’s Friuli and neighbouring Slovenia, winemakers have rediscovered fermenting white grapes on their skins, in part with qvevri imported for the purpose.
Kakheti has a number of protected designations of origin, each tied to a place and mostly to particular varieties. Tsinandali is a dry white from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane, Mukuzani a dry, powerful Saperavi red, Kindzmarauli and Akhasheni semi-sweet reds from Saperavi. What to drink: amber wine with roast poultry, mushrooms and strong cheese; Saperavi with lamb, grilled meat and game; Tsinandali with fish and vegetables.