Georgia
Continental with subtropical influences
One of the world's oldest wine cultures, with hundreds of native grapes, led by Saperavi, and a tradition of making wine in buried clay vessels called qvevri.
Overview
About Georgia
Georgia, in the Caucasus, is often called the cradle of wine, with evidence of wine making that goes back around 8,000 years. It has over 500 native grape varieties, and Saperavi for reds and Rkatsiteli for whites are the best known.
Much of the wine is still made in qvevri, egg-shaped clay vessels buried in the ground, in which white grapes are fermented with their skins to make amber wines. The method was inscribed by UNESCO in 2013.
Where is a grape grown?
Hover a marker to see what's grown there, and click it to open that place. On a touch screen, tap once to preview and again to open. Bigger markers have more grapes linked to them.
Georgia
The land
Climate & terroir
Climate
Continental with subtropical influences
Warm summers and cold winters in the east, with the Black Sea making the west wetter and milder. The Caucasus mountains provide shelter.
Terroir & soils
What the vines grow in
Alluvial soils, clay and shale on the valley floors, with rocky slopes in the foothills of the Greater Caucasus.
Within Georgia
Regions
Imereti
Western Georgia, around Kutaisi, where white grapes are fermented in clay vessels with only a little skin contact for softer, more delicate wines.
Kakheti
Georgia's main wine region, in the Alazani valley in the east, where Saperavi reds and qvevri-made amber whites are produced.
Kartli
The central river valley west of Tbilisi, known for Chinuri, sparkling wine from the Ateni gorge, and a historic princely estate.
What's grown here
Grapes
Grapes linked to Georgia or to a place within it. Each grape's page links back here.