For a listing of articles and videos on Georgian wines and wine travel in Georgia, check out our page Uncorking the Caucasus. To purchase the Kindle or paperback copy of the book Uncorking the Caucasus: Wines from Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, please head to this Amazon product page.

Thanks to the first annual UNWTO Conference on Wine Tourism, we got the chance to return to Tbilisi, Georgia in the Fall of 2016. When we arrived in Georgia, there was one producer who was our top priority to visit.

We had dinner on a crisp September night with one of our favorite winemakers, Dr Irakli “Eko” Glonti, the owner of Lavignari Winery. We tasted nine wines from his 2015 vintage with journalists from Turkey, China, Russia, USA, Germany and the UK who were also in town for the conference.

Eko is a medical doctor turned geologist turned winemaker. His first vintage was 2011 and in a short amount of time, the Lagvinari wines found their way to the wine list of The Fat Duck. He is also a favorite of Master of Wine, Isabelle Legeron.

Walking into his home, you know you are in the presence of a true renaissance man. The house is covered wall to wall with books, paintings, and vinyl from all different parts of the globe. He does not allow visitors to come to his winery; the only way to taste his wines is if you are lucky enough to be invited to his home. A visit to Eko’s always promises to be memorable as you can see below. 

Big week in Tbilisi as people from all over the world are here to attend the first UN wine conference. We were joined by journalists from China, Turkey, Russia, USA, UK, and Germany at Eko’s. Everyone ended the night with praises for Lagvinari wines. #UncorkingTheCaucasus

A video posted by Exotic Wine Travel (@exoticwinetravel) on Sep 6, 2016 at 12:33am PDT

Lagvinari Wine

Eko is a true romantic but thinks methodically about his wines. As a medical doctor, he is concerned with the health of the soil that the grapes are grown in. He works with many small farmers, most with less than a half-hectare of grapes. All Lagvinari wines are fermented, macerated, and aged in traditional Georgian “qvevri” (buried clay vessels) with the exception of a batch of Saperavi he made in steel tanks in 2011.

The wines reflect who he is as a person in a big way – all of them are aromatic and more elegant than powerful. Lagvinari wines display subtle flavors that open up in the glass over time and a bit of tension broken up by moments of intensity. All of Eko’s wines are alive and full of emotion – they are delicious and intellectual at the same time. The best part is the approachability, Lagvinari wines can be recognized as great efforts by even novice tasters. 

The number of wines produced by Eko changes from year to year depending on the quality of the grapes. The 2015 vintage was described as tough emotionally and physically by Eko. He is not proud of the vintage and keeps insisting that the 2016’s are even better. 

Despite his opinions, I was blown away by the 15’s and feel that they are accessible to even non-adventurous palates. Georgian qvevri wines have the ability to confuse, confound, and even turn off many tasters. The Lagvinari wines are easy to understand for the first time qvevri drinkers and complex enough to satisfy the most critical palates.

In 2015, Eko made nine varietal wines from Tsitska, Tsolikouri, Chinuri, Krakhuna, Rkatsiteli, Goruli Mtsvane, Aladasturi, Ojaleshi, and Otskanuri Sapere. All of these wines are excellent, but here are our three favorites of the vintage. 

EXOTIC WINE TRAVEL’S PICKS

(You can find out more about our scoring system on the START HERE page.)

• Lagvinari, Tsolikouri 2015

This Tsolikouri saw four months of skin contact. It has the nice spring breeze nose with oranges, almonds, and green tea flavors. The wine changes throughout the glass and has some tannic grip. This wine is floral and fruity. It constantly ebbs and flows between a white and light red wine as it breathes.   4.3/5

• Lagvinari, Goruli Mtsvane 2015

The wine made from this grape looks slightly gray in color. Goruli Mtsvane is rare, and there are only a handful of Georgian producers working with it. This is absolutely wonderful to drink. The wine has hints of white fruits, greens, and nuts on the nose, but it feels and tastes like a red wine on the palate. The texture is rich with faint red fruits, backed by a wonderful juiciness. The tannins are big and chewy. 

Eko thinks that this may be his greatest achievement in 2015. After sampling, it’s hard to disagree with his sentiment.   4.4/5

• Lagvinari, Aladasturi 2015

What a wine! This is made in qvevri but many would not be able to tell. Aladasturi is a red grape that makes wines with light color. It needs some time to breath in a decanter before it shows its true identity. The nose is very reminiscent of an Oregon Pinot Noir – raspberries, strawberries, forest floor, earth, and leaves. The palate is both earthy and fruity, it tastes a little like a Cru Beaujolais. This is a wonderful red wine that can be served slightly chilled and was our favorite wine of the evening.   4.5/5

You May Also Enjoy
Amber Revolution: Orange Wine Now Gets A Voice (And Book)
The Unstoppable Progress in the Georgian Wine Scene

The ideas expressed in this article are personal opinions and are not associated with any sponsors or business promotions.

The post 2015 Lagvinari Wine from Georgia appeared first on Wine Travel.

For a listing of articles and videos on Georgian wine and other wines from the Caucasus region, check out our page Uncorking the Caucasus. To purchase the Kindle or paperback copy of the book Uncorking the Caucasus: Wines from Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, please head to this Amazon product page.

Georgia, the Country of Ancient Winemaking

At the intersection between Eastern Europe and Western Asia lies an important key to the origins of wine: Georgia. It is a mountainous country that has survived many millennia of conflicts and somehow managed to hang on to its traditions including its love for wine.

In Georgia, wine production has been going on uninterrupted for 8,000 years. The qvevri is the symbol of Georgian winemaking. As early as in the Neolithic age, grape juice was fermented in buried qvevri. It is fascinating that thousands of years later, Georgia is still making wine in the same way as it did in the past. For that reason, drinking Georgian qvevri wine is similar to tasting the flavors of the ancient past. The Georgians who make wine in qvevri believe in the laissez-faire approach, where nothing is added and nothing is taken away. By putting the grapes into a qvevri and burying it underground, the winemaker allows nature to do most of the work.

 

What is Qvevri?

The qvevri (pronounce “kway-vree”) is an egg-shaped, beeswax-lined terracotta vessel used for making wine. The qvevri is filled with grapes, their skins and pips, and sometimes the stems too. Fermentation in the open qvevri relies on wild yeast. Geothermal regulation keeps the fermentation and wine at a constant, cool temperature. As the wine ferments, the qvevri’s conical shape promotes circulation and clarifies the wine naturally. After fermentation, the qvevri is sealed with a wooden lid and beeswax or clay. They are opened anywhere between a few months and a few years later for the wine to be transferred into another qvevri or bottles for further aging, or to be consumed immediately.

Outside of Gerogia, it is more common in the wine industry to use the term anfora or amphora (amphorae for plural) to refer to the clay vessel used for making wine. However, in Georgia, it is important to call a qvevri a qvevri as it is a symbol of their culture. In 2013, the UNESCO declared Georgia’s ancient tradition of making wine in qvevri as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Qvevri found outside the Pheasant’s Tears winery in Kakheti, Georgia. The size of qvevri can range from a few hundred to thousands of liters.

 

What is Orange Wine?

Let’s get this straight first: in Georgia, it is more common for people to refer to this style of wine as amber wine. We, too, prefer to use the term amber wine. However, outside of Georgia, people generally call it orange wine.

Nothing to do with the citrus fruit, orange wine is made from white wine grapes. While white wine is fermented from white grape juice with little to no skin contact, orange wine is fermented with the skins and seeds, and sometimes even with the stems. The color of a wine comes less from the flesh and juice than from the skin. For that reason, the skins of white grapes impart an amber hue to orange wine.

Besides imparting color, the seeds, skins, and stems provide tannins—a dry, grippy quality found in some red wines—to orange wine. When drinking orange wine, expect the slight astringency of a red wine and the crispness of a white. Just like all other wines, orange wines differ widely depending on the grape variety, terroir, and winemaking style. But as a general guide, they are medium- to full- bodied, with robust characteristics of nuts, tea, and dried fruit. By virtue of its bold flavors, medium to high acidity, low alcohol, and significant body, it can be paired perfectly with various dishes—from the spicy, to umami, and salty.

Today, orange wine is being made in all parts of the world including Australia, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Italy, Mexico, Slovenia, and the United States.

 

Introducing Georgian Qvevri Wine to Croatian Wine Lovers

After several months of promoting our book Uncorking the Caucasus in Georgia and Armenia, we finally left the region in November and made a brief detour to Macedonia to attend the inaugural Skopje Wine Salon (organized by our dear friend Ivana Simjanovska), before returning to Croatia. From Tbilisi the capital of Georgia, we brought along four bottles of Georgian qvevri wines that we were planning to share with a special group of wine lovers in Croatia. The group consisted of the top Vivino users in Croatia as well as Nenad Trifunović, an established wine blogger who runs the website vinopija.com (in Croatian).

While not new to amber wine (there are several Croatian winemakers who are making white wine with some skin contact), this was the first time that all eight Croatian wine lovers are tasting Georgian amber wine made in the qvevri. 

Our Selection of Georgian Qvevri Wines

The wines were served in an intentional sequence: from a few days of skin contact (something we expect everyone will enjoy) to deep amber, tannic wine that saw many months of skin contact (something that challenges conventional beliefs).

Nikoladzeebis Marani, Tsitska-Tsolikouri, 2015
Winemaker: Ramaz Nikoladze
Miscellaneous Notes: Ramaz Nikoladze is one of the big names in Georgia. He makes only around 3,000 bottles every year. His Tsolikouri was selected by Carla Capalbo as the Favourite Wine of 2015 at the Decanter’s 40th Anniversary celebration. For a mammoth-looking guy, his wines are surprisingly gentle.
Tasting Notes: Prominent but workable volatile acidity that flatters the aroma of dried flower and ripe apricot. A little volatile acidity really highlights the typical ripe or dried fruit flavor of amber wine; too much will obviously swamp the beauty. Gentle tannins and green tea-like astringency hit the mid-end palate. A delicate amber wine that makes a safe introduction for those who are new to this wonderful world of skin contact.

With winemaker Ramaz Nikoladze at Vino Underground in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Gotsa Family Wines, Chinuri, 2015
Winemaker: Beka Gotsadze
Miscellaneous Notes: Recently, Beka pioneered a heat treatment system to clean his qvevri and combat the big, bad brett—most commonly known as the “funky smell” in amber wine. He’s also one of the few winemakers in Georgia who is currently making pét-nat wines. The first vintage of his pét-nat was released in December 2016.
Tasting Notes: Allegedly one of the most popular wines to be served at the recent RAW WINE New York 2016. Tropical juiciness perked up by summer citrus brims the nose! What fun! The flavors are juicy, too, in the mouth and flawlessly moves into an imminent white-tea finish. A touch of gingery bitterness lingers. This is an amber wine that can be easily dismissed as simple and approachable, but start shifting attention to the structure and transition, let it aerate for awhile, and you can find many nuances to it.

Gotsa winery’s Beka Gotsadze opening a bottle of pét-nat that is still fermenting in the bottle. Do not try this at home. Seriously.

Lagvinari, Goruli Mtsvane, 2013
Winemaker: Dr Eko Glonti
Miscellaneous Notes: Cardiovascular surgeon-turned-geologist-turned-winemaker, Eko is arguably our favorite wine producer in Georgia. He started making wine five years ago with the encouragement of Isabelle Legeron MW (organizer of RAW WINE).
Tasting Notes: The smell of a Chinese celebration—goji berry, gooseberry, orange peel, fig, and an undefined red fruit underlying. The palate reflects the nose with complementary tannins that outline the ripe fruit notes.

The Lagvinari wine cellar is located in the basement of Dr Eko Glonti’s house in Tbilisi, Georgia. Here’s him selecting the treats for the evening.

Tsikhelishvili Wines, Rkatsiteli, 2013
Winemaker: Aleksi Tsikhelishvili
Miscellaneous Notes: No background information as we haven’t got the chance to visit the winery.
Tasting Notes: Raisin and prune on the nose. Sherry-like with pronounced volatile acidity. Almost hard to differentiate from a red wine if tasted blind. The front palate is gentle and the body is medium. When the wine sets in the mouth, draw some air in and you’ll notice the citrus and stone fruit flavors along with tannins hitting hard on the mid palate, defying the earlier assumption that it could be a light red. A powerful amber wine with black tea-like astringency and mouth-coating ripe fruit flavors.

We didn’t get the chance to visit the Tsikhelishvili’s winery yet, but this was the night when we fell in love with his wine. We were having dinner at Azarphesha restaurant in Tbilisi and our dear friend John Wurdeman picked out a bottle of Tsikhelishvili Rkatsiteli for us to try.

Georgian Qvevri Wine Against the Croatian Palate

Many of our Croatian friends commented on how “alive” and how much “energy” the Georgian qvevri wines possessed.

We continued the night with a blind tasting of six different varietal red wines made out of Teran, an indigenous variety from Istria, Croatia; the round-up will be shared in a future article. As for the qvevri wine tasting: surprisingly, it was the last bottle, Tsikhelishvili Wines Rkatsiteli 2013, that was crowned the favorite of the night. We said “surprisingly” because we had assumed that the wine would be the most difficult to understand—with its extreme oxidative style, black tea-like tannins, and dried fruit characteristics. As it turned out, most people appreciated that wine most because it reminded them of a red wine. Overall, everyone enjoyed at least two out of the four wines, except one person who drinks only reds. Many of our Croatian friends commented on how “alive” and how much “energy” the Georgian qvevri wines possessed. We were delighted with the way the wines showed overall.

One of our favorite things to do is introducing new wines to enthusiasts and experienced palates. It is always fun to share gems from the unheralded regions of the wine world with fellow wine lovers. Georgian qvevri wines are the most fun, yet challenging, to present to wine lovers. When these wines are done well, they give flavors and experiences that are unparalleled. At a time when words like “raw wine”, “natural wine”, and “wine with a sense of place” are gaining traction on the world stage, the Georgian wines are the perfect candidate to offer diversity and novelty that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.

You May Also Enjoy
The Unstoppable Progress in the Georgian Wine Scene
Saperavi: Georgia’s Flagship Red Wine Grape
A Brief History of Wines from the Caucasus
UNESCO: Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method

Special thanks to Bornstein Wine Bar and Shop for hosting us.
The ideas expressed in this article are personal opinions and are not associated with any sponsors or business promotions.

The post An Introduction to Georgian Qvevri Wine in Zagreb appeared first on Wine Travel.

For a listing of articles and videos on Georgian wines and wine travel in Georgia, check out our page Uncorking the Caucasus. To purchase the Kindle or paperback copy of the book Uncorking the Caucasus: Wines from Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, please head to this Amazon product page.

We spent the entire month of September in Georgia (the country) and were delighted to be back in this miraculous land for produce. We love being in Georgia for many reasons than one; the fresh produce and exciting wine scene are top of the list. All that just means that we are able to eat well and drink well every day. On one morning, we were planning to make our own breakfast in our apartment and the plan was conveniently executed as we only had to walk a hundred meters to get eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, capsicum, onions, apricots and two liters of sparkling water from the local market (there is no big-chain supermarket culture here)—all for USD 2.

During our stay, we managed to catch up with Ramaz Nikoladze–a busy and popular winemaker who makes less than 3,000 bottles per year in a small village in western Georgia. Ramaz makes three kinds of amber wine–a monovarietal Tsitska and Tsolikouri, as well as a blend of the two varieties–with grapes harvested from his family’s vineyards that are between 27 to 100 years old. He exports his wine in small quantities to Europe, Australia, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States. Ramaz also co-owns a hip wine bar in Tbilisi called Vino Underground, which is where we tasted his wine.

Nikoladzeebis Marani, Tsitska-Tsolikouri, 2015

Tsitska and Tsolikouri are two white Georgian grape varieties that grow in the Imereti region of Georgia. This region is full of small producers who are churning out traditional-style Georgian wines. Some of Georgia’s most exciting varieties come from this area.

This amber wine completely surprises us. Some traditional qvevri wine can smell faulty, with lots of oxidation and funk. This wine is incredibly clean with no faults. In fact, it smells more like a white wine than an amber wine with notes of citrus, peach, and white flower. This is macerated on the skins for four months, with no stem inclusion. The palate shows notes of peach, apricot, nut, and a touch of pineapple, supported by nice acidity. The wine finishes off with a gentle tug from the soft tannins and can be paired perfectly with Georgian tomato salad. Generally, we think that amber wines are incredibly food-friendly beverages.

After a little more research, we found that we were not the only admirer of Ramaz’s wines. His Tsolikouri was selected to be included in Decanter’s 40th Anniversary celebration and was the Favorite Wine of 2015 as selected by Carla Capalbo. She said:

“I love wines that make you question the status quo. This beautiful, amber-coloured white is made – as many of Georgia’s best wines are – in qvevri (large traditional clay vessels buried in the ground). Ramaz Nicoladze produces it from 100-year-old Tsolikouri vines in the Imereti hills of central Georgia, with three months of stem-free skin contact. The wine’s exotic notes of spice, apricots and tea ride with exciting energy to a finely tannic, elegant finale and go just wonderfully with food.”

Here’s a video of us tasting Nikoladzeebis Marani Tsitska-Tsolikouri at Vino Underground.

About Tsitska

(pronounce seet-ska) Grown in the Imereti region, the Tsitska grape is medium in size with thick skin. It is a high yielding and late ripening variety that typically produces acidic, light, and lively wine with flavors of yellow fruit and honeysuckle. Often used in a blend with Tsolikouri or Krakhuna, Tsitska is also particularly good for making sparkling wine.

About Tsolikouri

(pronounce sol-li-kori) If Rkatsiteli is the white grape of eastern Georgia, then Tsolikouri is the white grape of western Georgia. It is a thick-skinned grape that grows abundantly throughout Imereti. It is used in dry, semi-sweet, and sweet wines. It can also be made into a varietal wine as well as a blend. The European-style wine made from this variety has melon, pear, and floral characteristics. When made in the qvevri, the wine gains more body and expresses complex, layered flavors of citrus fruit, stone fruit, with a touch of floral notes. This variety shows great promise and is already makes fantastic wine, especially orange wine. Besides Imereti, this variety can also be found in other regions like Adjara, Guria, Racha-Lechkhumi, and Samegrelo.

More Georgian Wine Recommendations:
Gotsa Chinuri 2015
Pheasant’s Tears Chitistvala 2015
Trendsetter: Dr Eko Glonti from Lagvinari Winery, Georgia
Pheasant’s Tears Chinuri

You May Also Enjoy:
Amber Revolution by Simon Woolf
The Unstoppable Progress in the Georgian Wine Scene
Saperavi: Georgia’s Flagship Red Wine Grape
An Introduction to Georgian Qvevri Wine in Zagreb

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this article are personal opinions and are not associated with any sponsors or business promotions.

The post Tsitska-Tsolikouri Amber Wine from Imereti, Georgia appeared first on Wine Travel.

For a listing of articles and videos about Georgian wines and wine travel in Georgia, check out our page Uncorking the Caucasus. To purchase the Kindle or paperback copy of the book Uncorking the Caucasus: Wines from Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, please head to this Amazon page.

In 2015, just right before we left Singapore for our wine self-study and years-long trip, How To Spend It by Financial Times published an article entitled “New Adventures In Georgia”. In the article, a winery named Lagvinari—famed for having its wines featured on the menus at several Michelin-starred restaurants in the United Kingdom, including The Fat Duck—was mentioned. Upon arriving in Georgia, we were determined to check off that label on our to-drink list as soon as possible.

It was harvest season when we visited Georgia and many winemakers, including Dr Glonti, were busy with work in the vineyards. We called and spoke with Dr Glonti five times during our one-month stay in Gerogia. We were determined to set up an appointment to taste his wines. Finally, on our very last night in Georgia, Dr Glonti found the time and invited us to his house— a place of nostalgic charm filled with old photographs, fine art, books, and vinyl records. The evening was celebrated with food, wine, and storytelling. Did we mention magical wine?

Dr Glonti is a true renaissance man and a medical-doctor-turned-geologist-turned-winemaker. It was an honor to be able to hear his perspectives on Georgia, its wine history, and his label Lagvinari.

Interview with Owner & Winemaker at Lagvinari, Georgia

• When and why did you decide to start making wine?

I am a physician by education and started to make wine by accident. It was chance and sheer luck that brought me to winemaking. In 2010, I was introduced to a Master of Wine (Isabelle Legeron MW) who was making a film about Georgian wine at that time. I was traveling and looking for fine wines with her and I was dissatisfied with the wines that we found. During my travels around the world and in Georgia, I would talk to winemakers and ask a lot of questions about the taste of their wines. Their response was often, “How would you know what the wine should taste like, you’ve never made wine.” From there, I concocted the impulsive idea to make wine.

My first harvest was in 2011 and I was not prepared for it. I didn’t even have time to build a cellar. I was leasing the vineyards and managed to get a hold of a few tanks. I also had two qvevri, which I borrowed from a friend. One qvevri had Rkatsiteli and the tanks held Saperavi. Those wines from my first year of production can still be found in several restaurants in London today.

Now I work with a few farmers with organic vineyards. For quality control, I always pay above-market prices for their grapes in order to persuade them into fulfilling my expectations. Through them, I have access to 40-, 50-, and even 60-year-old vines. I am also buying my own plots and planting new vines. I believe this is the right way to move forward. Perhaps this effort will not reach fruition until I am gone. But it’s okay, someone else will take care of them when I’m gone.

We [The Georgians] have an 8,000-year-old winemaking history. It’s sad to see that today’s reality doesn’t quite match up to the extended history and tradition. There’s still a lack of well-tended vineyards and proper winemaking techniques in Georgia. Now is the time we need to be premeditative by planting the right varieties in the right locations.

• Could you tell me about the wine culture in Georgia?

The traditional way of making wine in Georgia is not a process, but a philosophy and a holistic approach. In Georgian vocabulary, we are not making wine, we are giving birth to wine and the qvevri is a womb being buried in the soil, which is—like wine—a living thing. It’s beautiful. Wine made in a qvevri that’s being buried underground signifies life given in the clay from the clay— this is essentially the story of Adam. Our ancestors were using qvevri as a burial vessel to give birth. When I look at qvevri, I get excited thinking about how our ancestors had painstakingly come up with the perfect shape for the vessel.

Our ancestors knew back then that this magical beverage we call wine is good for health and emotions, with evidence from our ancient winemaking culture and over 500 indigenous varieties. In the past, the Greeks used to refer to the Georgians as barbarians, because our ancestors were drinking undiluted wine while the rest of the world was drinking wine concoction. Today, we know better, our ancestors appreciated and respected wine.

In Georgia, our word for wine is “ghvino”. I’ve heard a few linguists suggest that the people who came in contact with Georgians could not pronounce the “kkhaaaaaaaa” in ghvino, and shortened it to just “vino”, and from there and then, the universal reference for wine was born.

Wine has always played a big part in our culture. There are old legends about invaders coming to our land, and our warriors would take cuttings of the vines and attach them to their belts. After pruning the vines, they would come down from the mountains to fight. They believed and hoped that if they were to fall, they’d come back as a vine and their mortal body would serve as fertilizer to the vine. They understood that wine represented the circle of life.

Some of the old qvevri made in the 20th century have the eternal wheel carvings on them. This leads me to believe that Georgians might have always understood and worshiped the wine. While I don’t have proof for this personal belief, sometimes you don’t need proof, you need insight.

• You were successful in getting Lagvinari wines to major markets. What do other Georgian winemakers need to do in order to follow in your footsteps?

I am a physician by training. I stopped practicing medicine a long time ago but the practice left deep impressions on me. It helped to build my philosophy of making wine, which perhaps not everyone will agree with. I look at winemaking through a different lens and as a holistic approach.

Winemakers should have a vision of what type of wine they want to get. They need to look at the limited amount of tools they have, and in winemaking, they are limited as winemakers too. Next, they need to look at when they should be using these tools and how they should be using these tools. Of course, you will never get to the point of your original vision, but if you are close, you are on the right track. You need some scientific knowledge and then learn how to minimally intervene the winemaking process. It is happening, there is a proliferation of small and large wineries in Georgia making some very interesting wine. These winemakers come from very different professions and they are all applying their intellect in their own winemaking process.

Georgia deserves to make great wines. In my opinion, it must start with many small wineries having full control of their wines, from the vineyards to bottling. We can’t compete with France, Spain, or Australia in making cheap wines. Georgia is a small country, compared to the hectares of vineyards countries like France, Spain, and Australia have. We can’t compete with cheap wines, the math just doesn’t work out. The future for Georgia is to make great wines that are genuine, that have culture, that express our soil in the glass. We need to aim for the high market niche. There are many people out there who are ready to taste new wines and hear new stories.

A Brief Introduction to the Qvevri Wines of Georgia

In 2013, the UNESCO declared Georgia’s ancient tradition of making wine in qvevri as an Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The recognition has helped to garner awareness for Georgia’s wine history and popularize Georgian wine across the globe. Depending on the source, commercial qvevri wine is said to be around 10 percent of the total Georgian wine production. Most commercial qvevri wines are made with minimal intervention and without modern contraptions. This means the wine is made without herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, heavy machinery, selected yeast, acid addition, fining agents, reverse osmosis, chaptalization, and thermal processing.

The styles of qvevri wines vary just as much as modern- or European- style wines. One of the major factors that determine the flavor profiles of qvevri wines is the style in which they are made. While qvevri wines can taste rustic sometimes, most other times they are boundary-pushing and unique; the qvevri wines of Georgia offer textures and flavors that are not replicated anywhere else in the world.

EXOTIC WINE TRAVEL’S CHOICE

Lagvinari, Tsolikouri, 2013

Fermented in qvevri, with Georgian indigenous white wine variety called Tsolikouri (pronounce sol-li-kor-ri). The grapes are cultivated in organic vineyards located in the Imereti region, western Georgia. An unfiltered wine with a small amount of sulfur added before bottling. The color is amber gold. On the nose, it expresses red berries, tart plum, dried apricot, forest, and a hint of honeyed characteristic. The aroma is reminiscent of fresh laundry that has been left out in the summer sun to dry–a very comforting smell! On the palate, it turns up strong on the front with some saline and earthy notes that gradually shift into flavors of nuts, dried flowers, and dried orange rind. The wine finishes off with herbal tea-like flavors and astringency.

Lagvinari has a huge portfolio of wines that may change every year. Other Lagvinari wines that we love include Otskhanuri Sapere, Saperavi, Aladasturi, and Krakhuna.

Search or buy Lagvinari wines on Wine Searcher.

You May Also Enjoy:
The Unstoppable Progress in the Georgian Wine Scene
Saperavi: Georgia’s Flagship Red Wine Grape
An Introduction to Georgian Qvevri Wine in Zagreb
A Brief History of Wines from the Caucasus

Exotic Wine Travel Episode 102: Excellent Georgian Wine by Lagvinari

More videos about Georgian wine on Exotic Wine Travel YouTube Playlist.

Featured image of Dr Eko Glonti by (c) Vinisfera: Mariusz Kapczyński
Note: The ideas expressed in this article are personal opinions and are not associated with any sponsors or business promotions.

The post Trendsetter: Dr Eko Glonti from Lagvinari, Georgia appeared first on Wine Travel.