Grape Varieties

Four varieties define the vineyards of Kartli, each with its own role. Chinuri, the principal white grape, owes its name to the Georgian word chinebuli, meaning excellent. It ripens late, often not until the end of October, yet retains an acidity that nearly every other Georgian variety might envy. This very acidity makes it the foundation for sparkling wine.

Alongside it stands Goruli Mtsvane, named after the town of Gori in the north of the region. The name means "green from Gori," and indeed the berry stays pale green rather than yellow even at full ripeness. Its wine tastes restrained, with notes of green apple and herbs. It is often blended with Chinuri, since both varieties ripen at the same time and complement each other in acidity. Bottled on its own, Goruli Mtsvane is a rarity.

Among the red varieties, the balance shifts. Here, what counts is not power but lightness. Tavkveri bears grapes with a strikingly flat tip, which is why winemakers jokingly call it "hammerhead." The skin is thin, the color in the glass more pale red than deep red, and the tannin content stays low. Some sommeliers compare a young Tavkveri to a rosé, even though it is vinified as a red wine. Because its flowers are female, the vine needs neighboring vines in the vineyard for pollination.

Shavkapito, its darker counterpart, translates roughly as "black cane wood." The name comes from the vine's nearly black shoots, not from the grape itself. The resulting wine is medium-bodied and fruity, often carrying a subtle peppery note, a far cry from the heavy tannin one might expect from Georgian red wine. After phylloxera and the Soviet era, the variety had nearly vanished. Only a handful of winemakers around Kaspi kept it alive. Today it is experiencing a revival. Chinuri, too, is enjoying a second career: left on its skins and seeds in the qvevri, it becomes an amber-colored orange wine that connoisseurs now seek out in wine bars from Berlin to New York, far beyond Georgia's borders.