Ori Marani, Lapati Wines, Tevza and other manufacturers who should follow

Khvanchkara, Zinandali, Kinzmarauli - you all probably heard these names from your parents. In the days of the USSR, Georgia was the main supplier of wine to the whole union. On the one hand, it seems to be good: the production grew, more vineyards were planted. On the other hand, the wine was made mainly in factories, and preference was given to light -growing and not requiring leaving varieties like “sappes” and “rkacitators”. More complex and delicate varieties were not only cut down (although this happened under Gorbachev), but rather, they simply forgot and did not cultivate. And there are many autochthonous grape varieties in Georgia - about 500 pieces.

In general, “Tsitsk” was grown for champagne, for the Kakheti zinandali and Gurdjaani - “Rkacitators” and “Mtzwana”, but for red wine - “Saperavi”. The remaining varieties mainly grew in villages and in the country. And there was just the most interesting thing: people continued to make wine themselves, and not according to factory, but according to traditional technologies. That is, using Kvevri - a giant clay jug, into which they dumped a bunch of grape juice along with bones, a pulp, and sometimes even with twigs. In general without filtering.

See, for example, the film "Curlers", shot according to the script of Rezo Gabriadze, - there is just about Quevrei and private winemaking under the USSR

Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Georgian winemaking dealt another final blow - part of the vineyards were cut down. But, they say, everything could have been worse: officials on the spot often cut down only one vine, but they removed the cutting from different angles - then to report to the authorities.

The next important stage in Georgian winemaking occurred already under Mikhail Saakashvili. One of the main bets of the then president was tourism, and together with the flow of Europeans and Americans, interest began to increase in guilt. Moreover, not to Soviet factory wines like Tbilvino, but to private winery, where rare varieties were grown, and the wine itself was kept in kverevri.

Some Europeans settled in Georgia - make their own wine there. But this is not even the main thing. At Saakashvili, wine licenses were introduced: having received one, you could no longer sell wine in the market in a plastic bottle, but to participate in prestigious wine festivals, which purchasers from the West come to. All this gave an incredible boost of winemaking: every year in Georgia a bunch of Marani opens (or over opening) (as a Georgian cellar is called in Georgian); Winemakers find and cultivate long -forgotten varieties, and in Tbilisi there are more and more boutiques and shops with natural wines.

We made a small guide on our favorite natural winery.

Do re mi

A small Georgian winery founded in 2012. It is located in Kartli - the Central region of Georgia, but grapes are purchased throughout the country. There are super -tannin Kakhetian wines (try mtzvaan or tibani), and softer varieties from the Imeret - we greatly advise Krakhun. The wine is average: in the area of 40-50 Lari per bottle.

Naotari Wines

The fierce wine from Kakheti is the maximum of Tanins, incredibly dry and almost burning taste. It is very good to give their fault to try someone who had not drank an orange-wow before (in fact this is a white wine, simply sustained in Quevrei-therefore, such a shade appears). Kisi from Naotari is one of the most extreme, but delicious Kakhetian wines. You can get it in DADI or in Wine Boutique in the Vera area. Of the analogues, we will advise Levani's Marani or Chona's Marani.

Georgi Makaridze

We move to Imereti, to the west of Georgia. There is less sun, more precipitation, so the wine is softer and more kind. Georgy Makaridze makes excellent white wines (Tsolikauri, Tsitsk), but we advise you to try his Chitsky’s blend with Otskhanuri-Sapara-a mixture of red and white grapes. By the way, the wife of George, Keto Puturidze, makes a luxurious Atnate from the Donglabi variety. It is called Putnat and will cost 70 Lary, but it's worth it.

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"Small children love Kakheti": a guide for natural Georgian winery