Expert’s choice: Discovering wines from Georgia

Georgia’s place is well deserved as the birthplace of winemaking, originating more than 8,000 years ago.

With a UNESCO-recognised, clay-vessel vinification method and more than 470 native grape varieties, it’s great that Georgia’s traditional and modern wines are now far more widely available.

Scroll down for Carla Capalbo’s tasting notes and scores for 18 top wines from Georgia

I sampled nearly 50 wines imported to Britain from Georgian producers small and large.

They divide roughly into two groups: traditional, including amber, wines made by family producers in clay qvevri – hand-made coil pots buried in the ground – and contemporary, ‘European-style’ wines from Georgian grapes made by larger wineries favouring steel tanks and wood barrels that can offer a bridge to less familiar tastes and styles.

Amber nectar

Iago Bitarishvili, one of Georgia’s most celebrated independent winemakers, lives on the land and vinifies his own grapes in qvevri.

‘Our pots provide neutral winemaking vessels in which wines can ferment, breathe and evolve without wood,’ he says. Grapes may be left on their skins for months in qvevri, resulting in the amber, macerated wines that are becoming increasingly popular.

In this method, white grapes are treated as red, extracting more aromas and tannins and adding complexity. Spurned by the Soviets, this ancestral art is still practised by rural families throughout Georgia.

Several top qvevri producers’ wines are imported into the UK by Les Caves de Pyrene, one of the first to seek out these hand-made wines.

Doug Wregg, its founding partner, is a fan of Georgia’s skin-contact wines. ‘The appeal is a texture I can only describe as “cashmere”,’ he says. ‘They feel unmediated and natural; I love their versatility with food. Growers from throughout the world travel to Georgia for inspiration.’

Bright future

Personally, I’m delighted that wines from this historic winemaking country in the Caucasus are finally becoming more available in the UK.

Imports in 2020 were up 243% on the previous year, with more than 365,000 bottles imported, according to Georgia’s National Wine Agency. That’s no mean feat for a country whose wines were considered niche until recently.

That change began when a handful of pioneers burst onto the scene with their remarkable wines a decade ago. Many more have since joined them, with support from the Georgian Wine Agency: wine is a major export and helps underpin Georgia’s tourism economy.

In Britain, we take our cosmopolitan marketplace for granted and expect to find global wines in our shops. That’s unusual: it’s still rare to find international wines for sale in Italy or France.

Foreign winemakers describe the British market as the toughest to break into: a battleground between up-and-coming and well-established regions. But Georgian wines have now joined that list and are attracting considerable attention.

I hope this exciting range will inspire you too. And one final word: don’t over-chill your amber wines.

Carla Capalbo is an awarded food, wine and travel writer. Her books include Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus (revised edition 2020, Pallas Athene)

See Carla Capalbo’s top 18 wines from Georgia

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