Europe
Georgia
The cradle of wine - 8,000-year-old winemaking culture and the original orange wines made in buried clay qvevris.
Georgia is widely accepted as the birthplace of wine. Archaeologists have found 8,000-year-old clay pots with grape residue, and the country's unique qvevri method - fermenting whole grapes in large egg-shaped clay vessels buried in the ground - is still practiced today.
The most famous expression is 'orange' or amber wine: white grapes fermented on their skins in qvevri to produce deep-coloured, tannic, savoury wines unlike anything else. The main red grape is Saperavi, a rare teinturier variety with dark red flesh.
Georgian wine is powerful, textured and eye-opening, and its natural, low-intervention approach is having a major influence on modern 'orange wine' fashion worldwide.
Wine Regions
All regions →Notable Wines
All wines →Shalvino Qvevri Amber Rkatsiteli
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Shalvino Qvevri Amber Rkatsiteli is an white wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Rkatsiteli. An 8,000-year-tradition amber wine fermented in clay qvevri — the ancestral skin-contact white.
$20–$30 est. retail
Kakheti Saperavi
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Kakheti Saperavi is an red wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Saperavi. a house-style Kakheti saperavi that showcases the grape in this region.
$14–$34 est. retail
Kakheti Rkatsiteli
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Kakheti Rkatsiteli is an white wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Rkatsiteli. a house-style Kakheti rkatsiteli that showcases the grape in this region.
$12–$28 est. retail
Kakheti Kisi
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Kakheti Kisi is an white wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Kisi. a house-style Kakheti kisi that showcases the grape in this region.
$12–$28 est. retail
Kakheti Mtsvane
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Kakheti Mtsvane is an white wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Mtsvane. a house-style Kakheti mtsvane that showcases the grape in this region.
$12–$28 est. retail
Kakheti Saperavi Riserva
Kakheti · 2024 (representative vintage)
Kakheti Saperavi Riserva is an red wine from Georgia, in the Kakheti region (Eastern Georgia, the country's principal wine region, between the Greater Caucasus mountains and the Alazani river.), made principally from Saperavi. a reserve-tier Kakheti saperavi that represents the region's premium bottled expression.
$45–$90 est. retail
Buying Georgia Wine
- › Start with a classic Saperavi red - a rare dark-fleshed grape delivering big black-fruit and earthy character.
- › For qvevri amber wines, look to Kakheti wineries producing single-vineyard bottlings; expect phenolic grip and age-worthiness.
- › Georgian wines are naturally characterful and low-intervention, so they drink warmly and often slightly cloudy - that is the style.