A little bit of Georgia in Sussex (part 2), by Chris Foss The British Georgian Chamber of Commerce and the Georgian National Wine Agency invited a group of Plumpton students to visit Georgia at their Easter break. At first, the trip was only conceived for eight students, but, in the end, 21 pupils attended,…
Precise and considered, Kakha Tchotiashvili is a quiet but inspiring force. His immaculate little marani is beautifully, almost sparsely, ordered. Kakha tolerates the surging interest in himself and his wines from the wine media. But he prefers to let the wine do the talking. He farms his family vineyards on organic principles, and makes tiny…
This small producer of qvevri wines was founded by the charismatic, curious and dynamic Eko Glonti. Eko’s previous careers were in medicine and geology, and their disciplines show in his sensitive and holistic approach to vine-growing and wine making. From his few hectares of vineyards, Eko makes a wonderfully diverse range of wines from indigenous…
This family winery is in Racha, a beautiful, remote and mountainous region of Western Georgia. Racha was once famed for its distinctive wine styles and unique grape varieties. Under Soviet times, these local varieties were uprooted in the relentless drive for standardisation. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Racha lost both people and vineyards,…
This relatively new estate has a fascinating back-story. Lado Uzanishvili brims with energy, enthusiasm and knowledge. Wine is in his blood. In the 19th century, his forefathers were chief winemakers on the princely estates of Alexander Chavchavadze. They went on to be awarded an Imperial Medallion and 100 gold coins for “Notable and Outstanding Winemaking”…
This sparkling wine specialist is named in honour of Prince Ivane Bagration of Mukhrani, the wine-loving prince who introduced sparkling wine production in Georgia in 1882, using the techniques he had witnessed in Champagne. Today’s company dates from 1937 and dominates sparkling wine production and sales in Georgia. The winery is full of new, and…
Sisters Baia and Gvanca Abuladze are inspiring young women. In just three years, they have restored their family’s long wine tradition. Baia was just 22 when, in 2015, she successfully applied for a national grant to help women in Georgia set up agricultural wine businesses. (Women comprise more than half of Georgia’s agricultural work-force, but…
Founded in 2004, Georgian Wines is an example of the blossoming of new, small wine producers since the new millennium. Their 40 hectares of vineyards are located in Kakheti, in a zone named after the Zangaura dry river bed. This sunny but sheltered terroir is renowned for producing intense, rich wines. The high, shimmering Caucasus…
In 2012, diggers unearthed a surprise stash of hundreds of old qvevri in the grounds of Vaziani wine cellar. They were the remains of the once princely, then derelict, winery of Makashvili, founded in the latter half of the 15th Century. Vaziani (a large, modern winery established in the 1980s) set about restoring the old…
This small estate of 34 hectares is being restored to old glories by Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze. Vazisubani’s mansion and vineyards were established by Tavadi (Prince) Sulkhan Chavchavadze in the late 19th century. Named after the village in which it is located, Vazisubani flourished in this golden but curtailed period of Georgian history. Beautifully…