The story of Georgian wine has been 8,000 years in the making | Wine

. UK edition

Traditional qvevri, in which wine would be fermented underground.
A lot of modern Georgian wine is still made in traditional clay vessels, or qvevri, that are buried underground. Photograph: Alexander Lutsenko/Alamy

Dubbed ‘the holiest of holies’, produce from this former Soviet republic today boasts a variety and deftness that’s sending sales surging

France, Italy and Spain purport to be the best-loved classical wine regions, but if you’re in the market for the real old-world deal, look no further than Georgia, which has more than 8,000 years of winemaking prowess. There’s something about this place on the lush intersection of the silk roads between Europe and Asia that gets under the skin. Perhaps it’s the combination of unpolished authenticity paired with profound generosity (guests are considered a gift from God and fed accordingly), all while being gently rocked in a cradle of civilisation, that make Georgian wine so beguiling. (My first visit in August 2023 – a khachapuri-fuelled reconnaissance for my book, Drinking the World: A Wine Odyssey – lingered in my mind long after my flight touched back down on British tarmac.

What I find most refreshing is that the country, and its wine, is completely itself, despite being hemmed in by empires with a proclivity for invasion (Persians, Turks, Mongols et al), as well as the decades spent under USSR rule, which between 1922 and 1991 switched the grape-growing focus to yield over quality. Today, you really feel the Georgian delight at flipping that old Soviet diktat on its head.

The winemakers I met were laser-focused on nurturing their Georgian-ness, while the country’s 525-plus indigenous grape varieties result in kaleidoscopic left-field flavours. When John Wurdeman, the American co-founder of Pheasant’s Tears winery, came on to the scene in 2007, he gave Georgian wines a window to the world. Early adopters such as Yotam Ottolenghi helped bring them into the mainstream, and their surging popularity (UK volume sales increased by 72% in 2024) runs in congruence with the rise of natural wine. In fact, you can hold this corner of the Caucasus accountable for the profusion of voguish bars proffering groovy-labelled orange wines, though the fermentation of skin-contact “amber” wine in qvevri (egg-shaped clay vessels buried underground) has been à la mode here since Neolithic times.

For a wine enthusiast, Georgia is like tapping into the source code. The sommelier Honey Spencer sees it as “the final frontier”, while nomadic winemaker Darren Smith dubs the country “the holiest of holies”. Hot, dry Kakheti in the east produces the lion’s share of Georgia’s wines, typically bold reds and ambers, and I was particularly wowed by a qvevri-aged saperavi (an inky-skinned red with heady notes of blackcurrant and leather) made by Orgo’s respected Giorgi Dakishvili. From the country’s west, meanwhile, expect bright, fresh wines. I loved the beautifully structured wines from Oda, set up by literary critic turned winemaker Keto Ninidze, while names to know in Imereti are Archil Guniava and the Abuladze sibling trio behind Baia (where Smith made wines under his The Finest Wines Available to Humanity label), both of which embrace endemic varieties: the vermentino-like tsolikauri, the crisp, late-blooming krakhuna and tsitska’s herbal aromas.

Spencer, of Sune restaurant in east London, recently masterminded the excellent wine list at DakaDaka, 2026’s most exciting Georgian opening. “When I was first trying these wines back in 2011, a lot of the reds were incredibly heavy and not really suited to the western palate,” she says. “That was a Soviet hangover. They have changed, though. There’s a lightness and a deftness of touch in most Georgian wines now.”

A Georgian starter set

Pheasant’s Tears Rkatsiteli Bodbiskhevi 2023 £22 Shrine to the Vine, 12.5%. Made from Georgia’s most-plated white grape, this sprightly, qvevri-aged wine has a lovely, peppery finish.

Oda Wines Orbeluri Ojaleshi 2021 £29 Sager and Wine, 12%. Lechkhumi’s limestone soils turn this rare grape into a dark, grown-up rosé with tarragon notes.

Gorgeous Georgia Red £10 Waitrose, 11.5%. A silky saperavi that’s a bit like a blend of primitivo and beaujolais. Perfect for midweek pouring.

Bedoba Orange 2022, £17.50 Georgian Wine Shop, 13%. Honeyed orange peel, wild herbs and a captivating texture: this rkatsiteli-kisi blend is fermented in a combination of qvevri and stainless steel.