Tbilvino Qvevris Rkatsiteli 2022

Kakhetian-style Rkatsiteli: amber in colour, with honey, walnut and bitter edges, held together by lively acidity.

In Georgia, the word is not “orange” but “amber”. Here, juice and skins ferment and macerate together for five to six months in a qvevri, a clay jar buried in the ground, following the method known as Kakhetian. Rkatsiteli, considered one of the oldest white grapes, comes out yellow-orange. It brings honey, pear, quince, walnut and a note of pine. The attack is lightly tannic with bitter edges, the oxidation stays controlled, and good acidity holds everything together. The finish stretches out on bitterness and slightly spiced tannins. A little sediment may form in the bottle, a consequence of the way it is made.

Tbilvino was founded in 1962 in Tbilisi to supply one of the Soviet Union’s largest wine cooperatives. In 1999 it moved to Kakheti, intent on reviving Georgian winemaking. The Russian embargo of 2006 hit hard, since Russia then took half the country’s output. Tbilvino regrouped, then renovated its equipment in 2008. Today it is run by two brothers, Zurab and George Margvelashvili, and makes wine in Tbilisi and Kvareli from its own vineyards, notably Vachnadziani (128 hectares in 17 plots) and Shashiani. Its principle is to let Georgia’s thousand-year-old traditions, buried clay jars included, speak with modern technology.