🗺️ Georgian wine

Georgian wine is the wine and winemaking of Georgia, where the earliest chemical traces of grape wine in the Near East were found: in jar shards from Shulaveris Gora and Gadachrili Gora, about 50 km south of Tbilisi, dated to around 6000–5800 BC. ¹ Georgian law calls viticulture and winemaking the country's historic, cultural and economic priority sector. ¹²

Ten zones and Kakheti. The law divides the country into ten viticulture zones: Kakheti, Kartli, Meskheti, Imereti, Racha, Lechkhumi, Guria, Samegrelo, Abkhazia and Adjara, with subzones in Kakheti, Kartli and Imereti. ¹² Kakheti matters most: its best vineyards lie in the Alazani and Iori basins at 400–700 m on humus-carbonate, black and alluvial soils, and 19 of the 25 place-name wines listed by the National Wine Agency come from there, among them Tsinandali, Mukuzani, Napareuli and Kindzmarauli. The most widespread variety is the red Saperavi; among whites Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane Kakhuri stand out. ³

West and mountains. Kartli, along the Mtkvari, Liakhvi and Ksani at 450–700 m, is known for European-style and sparkling wines from Chinuri, Goruli Mtsvane, Tavkveri and Shavkapito. In Imereti the qvevri is called churi and less pomace goes into it; Sviri is made there from Tsitska, Tsolikouri and Krakhuna. In Lechkhumi the Tvishi micro-zone gives a naturally semi-sweet Tsolikouri, and on the humid Black Sea coast vines were long trained high and the harvest could run from November to January. In Meskheti vines grow on terraces at 900–1,700 m, which the agency calls probably the highest wine region in the world. ³

Qvevri. This is a large clay vessel for fermenting and storing wine; its present egg shape dates back to the 3rd millennium BC. Capacity ranges from a few hundred litres to several tonnes, most often 1–2 tonnes, and in Kakheti there are qvevri of 6,000–8,000 litres. Making one qvevri takes about three months. ⁵ In 2013 UNESCO inscribed the traditional qvevri method on its list of intangible heritage. ²

How qvevri wine is made. In the Kakhetian method grapes are crushed in a wooden press called satsnakheli and the juice goes into the qvevri with the skins, stalks and pips; after fermentation the qvevri is sealed and the first racking comes in March. ³ Buried in the ground, the qvevri stays at 13–15 °C; red wine stays on the skins for 7–10 days, white until spring, turning golden or tea-coloured. ⁵ By law a qvevri wine must ferment and age in the qvevri at least until 31 December of the harvest year, and amber wine is a colour category of its own next to white, rosé and red. ¹²

Appellations and protection. A Georgian appellation wine must be made only from grapes of its area and be registered with Sakpatenti, the national intellectual property office, on the basis of a specification that sets borders, grapes and maximum yields. ¹² The agency lists 33 appellations; the first, Khvanchkara, was registered on 14 July 2005, followed the same year by Mukuzani, Tsinandali, Akhasheni and Gurjaani. ⁴ The EU–Georgia Association Agreement of 2014 protects 18 Georgian wine names in the European Union, from Akhasheni to Vazisubani. ¹³

Harvest. In 2025 Georgia processed about 336,000 tonnes of grapes, the most in 30 years; some 22,000 growers brought in the crop and earned 475 million lari, and Kakheti supplied 327,000 tonnes. In Racha a record 3,000 tonnes were processed, mostly Aleksandrouli and Mujuretuli, the grapes of Khvanchkara. ⁷ According to the OIV, the country made 2.6 million hl of wine. ⁶ By 30 October 2026 about 323,300 tonnes had been processed; in Kakheti only 0.7% was low-quality fruit, and the state buyer paid 1.50 lari per kg for Saperavi with at least 20% sugar. ¹⁰

Exports and control. Every wine for export must be certified, tasted by the agency's permanent commission and shipped only in consumer packaging. ¹² In 2024 Georgia sold about 95 million litres of wine abroad, worth 276.1 million dollars, to 72 countries. ⁸ In 2025 the average export price rose to 2.98 dollars a litre, with the highest price, 6.17 dollars, in the United States. ⁹ In the first quarter of 2026 exports reached 17.3 million litres to 51 countries, 5% more than a year earlier. ¹¹

Why it matters to you. Mukuzani or Tsinandali are appellations with their own rules, not producers' brands. ⁴ White qvevri wine can be amber and grippy, and that is not a fault but the result of long contact with the skins. ⁵ WHO stresses that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption. ¹⁴