70% Tsolikouri, 30% Tsitska from Georgia.

Naturally fermented with indigenous yeasts.

The fruit used to make this wine macerated on the skins for fifteen days before naturally fermenting with indigenous yeasts in Qvevri. The wine exudes notes of wild pear, green apple, hazelnut and apricot. It has lovely acid and good weight on the palate, a slight tannin on the edges and a finish of honeycomb. Pair with chicken dishes, river fish or salads.

Vino culture has been connected with the spread of Christianity in Georgia: St. Nino tied vine branches with her own hair to show the cross and preach Christianity to Georgians in the fourth century — to this day the top bar of the Georgian cross is slightly bent as a wine branch was the first time Georgian’s witnessed the cross. There are about 450 unique vine varieties in Georgia and most of these would not be familiar to western palettes. Unfortunately, during the Soviet period when winemakers focused on massive production, some rare varieties that needed special care were abandoned and are now mostly extinct.

After the fall of communism in Georgia, many winemakers in the country started a retrospective of wine grapes and wine making techniques that had made Georgia so unique in the winemaking world to begin with. In 2013, a couple of maverick Georgian winemakers such as Baia Abuladze and her sister Gvantsa started to rediscover the rarest species of wine grapes in Western Georgia and to focus on bio wine making techniques. The re-discovery process continues until today: Baia Abuladze, together with her winemaking family, stands among those Georgian winemakers who work to identify and classify local vine varieties.