Khareba Winery: New and Old Winemaking in Imereti

While traveling in Western Georgia, I stopped by the Khareba Winery in Terjola to see their Imereti facilities and taste their wines, both those made in traditional qvevri (churi) and those made the international way in modern stainless steel and oak. I had earlier visited Khareba’s winery in Telavi and tasted the portfolio of wines from Kakheti, so I was curious to see their wines from a very different terroir and different grape varieties. Lead winemaker Lado Kublashvili and Imereti winemaker Vasil Tskipurishvili showed me the state of the art winery, which wouldn’t look out of place in the Napa Valley and led the portfolio tasting.  My tasting notes are given below.

Winemaker Vasil Tskipurishvili

Founded in 1995 by three brothers named Kharebava, Khareba is one of Georgia’s largest and most commercially successful wineries.  Its origins date back to at least the 17th century when wines from its vineyards in Vachnadziani belonged to the noble Jandieri and Vachnadze families. It was also an important state-owned winery until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.  The Kharebera brothers renovated and expanded the winery and its vineyards. Today Khareba owns 1500 hectares of vineyards specializing in the country’s indigenous varieties and has four winemaking facilities including one in Imereti.

We tasted wines made in the international style, wines made in qvevri (marketed under the Monastery Qvevri label), wines from their boutique Lipartiani label, and a Champagne-style sparkling wine.  All the wines are sourced from Khareba’s 135 ha of estate vineyards in Western Georgia, and all the grapes are hand harvested.

International Style:  These wines are made using the classic (European) method of fermentation in stainless steel using commercial yeasts. The wines are all clean with good varietal character and offer uncomplicated, easy drinking pleasure. The Brut, which sees 8 years en tirage, is especially impressive.  

Khareba 2013 Brut Sparkling Wine Imereti  Medium yellow straw. Vibrant fresh stone fruit with a hint of toast on the nose. Full in the mouth with a fine effervescence, textural richness and beautifully delineated brioche-accented fruit. Made from Tsistka and disgorged 2023. Excellent.  Khareba 2023 Krakhuna Imereti Light platinum straw. The attack is soft with aromas and flavors of pear, apple and melon flavors.  Clean, fresh and balanced, the Krakhuna offers pleasant, easy drinking.  12.5% alc. Khareba 2023 Tsitska Imereti  The Tsitska opens with a delicate bouquet of pear, melon and lychee. Soft and fruity on a perfumed palate.  Clean and pure with a long finish. Very good.  The grapes are sourced from several small parcels in the Sviri PDO.  12% alc. Khareba 2023 Tsolikouri Imereti  Pale straw. Bouquet and flavors of flowers, apple and white peach.  Crisp on the attack with medium concentration and crisp acidity.  12.5% alc.

Monastery Qvevri: These wines are all made in the traditional Georgian manner, fermented in qvevri with native yeasts and about 30% of the grapes are given 3-5 months skin contact.  The wines are of consistently good quality.  The Aladasturi and Otskhanuri Sapere are especially impressive.

Khareba 2022 Monastery Qvevri Krakhuna Imereti  Light-medium amber orange in color. Spicy, orange-inflected aromas. Soft on entry and full in the mouth. 30% of the grapes are given 4 months skin contact. 12.5% alc.  Khareba 2022 Monastery Qvevri Tsitska Imereti  Light amber in color with delicate peach notes on the nose. The palate offers a suave texture with notes of ginger spice and fresh stone fruit.  12% alc. Khareba 2021 Monastery Qvevri Tsolikouri Imereti  Yellow-amber with orange flecks. This is a complete wine showing stone fruit skins and nervy mineral notes on the nose. It’s soft on the attack with lovely balance and expressive, tongue-coating flavors on a grippy, firm palate.  Very good. 11.5% alc. Khareba 2020 Monastery Qvevri Aladasturi Imereti This is a late ripening variety susceptible to botrytis, so it’s picked early, dried Amarone style for about 4 weeks and the fermented in qvevri. The wines is full in the mouth with good acidity and freshness with no dried fruit character.  Aromas and flavors tend towards plum, dark cherry and milk chocolate. Finishes dry. 13% alc.  Excellent. Khareba 2023 Monastery Qvevri Otskhanuri Sapere Imereti  This variety often has unripe green berries in the bunch, so Khareba does a super careful selection of only the ripest berries.  The result is this Petit Verdot-like wine, dark purple in color and dense on the palate with flavors that evoke ripe black raspberries. Finishes very long with chalky tannins.  Excellent.

Lipartiani: The Lipartiani Wine House takes its name from the noble Lipartiani family of the principality of Samegrelo in West Georgia.  Its estate in the village of Salkhino was renowned for the quality of its wines, especially those made from the Ojaleshi grape variety, since at least the mid-19^th century.  Lipartiani is Khareba’s boutique winery within a winery.  The wines are in most cases blends of varieties and regions made in both the Georgian (qvevri) and classic (European) methods. These wines were previously reviewed in the IWR article Lipartiani: Georgia’s New Boutique Winery.

Lipartiani 2015 Queen Tamar Imereti Medium yellow straw. This is an international style wine fermented in stainless steel, not qvevri. The blend varies by vintage to maintain a consistent style. The wine reveals yellow fruit with touches of acacia, beeswax, and dried chamomile. It’s beautifully balanced and softly textured with good flavor concentration, and a long, clean finish. Krakhuna contributes to the bouquet, while Tsitska provides acidity to the blend. The blend varies by vintage to maintain a consistent style. The 2015 vintage (bottled in 2018) is a blend of 35% Krakhuna, 35% Tsitska, 15% Mtsvane, 8% Rkatsiteli, 5% Sauvignon, and 2% Chardonnay, all vinified separately before blending aging 8 months in 80% new oak. pH 3.29, 12.5% alc.  Excellent. Lipartiani 2019 Qvevri Dry White Medium yellow gold. This qvevri selection reveals a mix of yellow apple, cling peach, chamomile and a hint of orange zest. Tsitska contributes the acidity that gives this wine its appealing freshness, and skin contact gives the wine its firm backbone that makes it excellent for pairing with food. It went superbly with nighziani badijani (eggplant rolls with walnuts, lemon and garlic). A blend of 35% Krakhuna, 18% Kisi, 17% Khikhvi, 15% Tsolikouri and 15% Tsitka separately fermented and aged 3-6 months on the skins in qvevri and then blended. pH 3.44, 12.5% alc. Very good. Lipartiani 2019 Qvevri Dry Red  This qvevri red is a blend of four grapes from four different regions of Georgia. Its bouquet recalls black fruit, dark soil and flinty minerals. It’s bright on the attack with bright acidity and flavors of black currant, blackberry, and a hint of violet. Finishes with dry tannins. Definitely a food wine. A blend of 50% Saperavi, 25% Otskhanuri Sapere, 20% Ojaleshi, and 5% Aleksandrouli fermented with ambient yeast and given skin contact only during fermentation, about two weeks, before being racked into fresh qvevri for about four months before blending. pH 3.49, 13% alc. Very good.