Andrew Jefford: ‘The progress Georgia has made in the last decade is astonishing’

Vineyard in Kakheti, Georgia.

The progress Georgia has made in the last decade is astonishing – on two fronts, in particular.

The first is the country’s work with its genetic treasure chest of grape varieties. On my first visit in 2013, these seemed a research curiosity, and their widespread adoption and use in the country’s most ambitious wines was tentative. Now, a grand renaissance is underway. Every serious wine producer is crafting an increasing percentage of its leading wines with varieties other than the familiar red Saperavi and white Rkatsiteli. The result is a much wider aesthetic spectrum for Georgian wine than formerly, and many more ways to interpret Georgia’s terroir differences.

The varietal research work, too, under David Maghradze and David Chichua, has accelerated. ‘Every Georgian region has at least five indigenous varieties of its own of real interest, which are already planted and in intense use,’ says Chichua.

I tasted micro-vinified wines made from historic varieties from the western regions of Imereti and Guria on my visit in December 2024 and found the results thrilling, especially for the lush, perfumed white Sakmiela, the tender pale-red Jani, the fresh, urgent red Argvetuli Sapere and the dark, velvety red Skhilatubani. For Decanter readers, as for most Georgians, these will be just a set of strange names at present. The point, though, is that this gene bank not only gives Georgia the wherewithal to build a wine offer of remarkable complexity and diversity for itself, but it constitutes a global resource, too. Our existing ‘classical’ variety set is already climate-challenged, and in any case over-narrow; we may need this resource for the future.

The other astonishing advance is the quality of the best Georgian qvevri wines themselves. I found 12 wines of compelling, gold medal-level quality out of the 126 samples my panel tasted: 11 amber white and one red wine. More importantly I realised these ‘novel’ wines meet accepted global fine-wine criteria of subtlety, balance, layering, textural interest, aromatic complexity, drinkability and innate beauty.

Yes, qvevri amber wines require palates open to the textures, aromas and flavours inherent to this, the sixth genre of wine. Many younger drinkers already have such palates, though, and they will be universal within a decade or two. In a century’s time, Georgia’s top grower and estate qvevri wines will be on the wine lists of the world’s finest restaurants, and will sell on allocation. (For the record, the producers of the 12 wines I particularly liked in the competition were Akhmeteli, Anapea Village, Lagvani, Bakhtrioni with two wines, Damarchine Estate, Danieli, Khareba/Monastery, Mukuzani Wine Cellar, Teliani Valley Glekhuri, 39 Qvevri and Tsinandali Estate.)

On allocation, that is, if Georgia is allowed to continue the path of development it has followed since it regained independence in 1991. Coinciding with my astonishment at Georgia’s wine progress, though, came the political shock of Georgia’s manipulated October 2024 elections and (while we tasted) the violent police response to the demonstrations that followed. The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party, led by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has shelved EU accession talks and replaced elected President Salome Zourabichvili with its own unelected nominee. Georgia’s political future now looks precarious.

A future of Russian domination would be a disaster for Georgia’s wine community, as it would be for the nation as a whole. Georgia’s winemakers need our help, even if this means no more than stressing Georgia’s importance to our beautiful wine world, and trying a renaissance jewel every now and again.

In my glass this month

In a couple of months, I’ll be tackling one of the key dichotomies in the world of wine: the pulse between ripeness and freshness. If you relish generosity in wine (as I do), the 2021 Petra, Toscana IGT from the Maremma’s coastal Val…