Chinuri
Kartli, Georgia
Kartli's high-acid white, the traditional base of Georgian sparkling wine: wild mint, forest pear and a crisp, green-tinged palate.
Sensory profile
Characteristics
Flavor & aroma
At a glance
Production facts
Prevalence
Rare
Climate
Moderate climate
Ripening
Late season
Wine styles
Still, Sparkling
Where it's grown
Geography
Shaded areas are the state, province or département(s) containing each region, so they run wider than the appellations themselves.
Georgia
Kartli
The traditional grape of Georgian sparkling wine, especially around the Ateni gorge, with high acidity and late ripening.
Background
Origin & History
Chinuri is grown mainly in Kartli, in central Georgia, where it ripens late, reaching full maturity around the end of October. It keeps high acidity and is reported to resist fungal disease well. It is regarded as best suited to sparkling wine, in the style called Atenuri after the Ateni gorge, where it is usually blended with Goruli Mtsvane and often Aligoté.
Still wines are also made, both in the modern European way and in the traditional qvevri, the buried clay jar, where they take on an amber colour. No DNA parentage has been published for it.
Lineage
Family tree
Parentage not recorded — Chinuri is an old variety of unknown origin.
No crossings involving Chinuri are documented in the collection yet.