Qvevri Wine: 8,000 Years of Georgian Funk

Georgia (the country, not the state) has been making wine for a very long time: archaeologists have found traces of grape wine in clay jars there from around 6000 BC, the oldest known evidence of grape winemaking anywhere. The qvevri method itself is on UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage.

The qvevri (pronounced KVEV-ree) is a large clay vessel, egg-shaped, lined with beeswax, and buried underground up to the neck. Grapes go in — skins, seeds, stems, and all. The vessel is sealed. The earth regulates temperature. Months later, wine comes out.

Traditionally: no temperature control. No yeast additions. No fining or filtering. Little or no added sulfite. Just grapes and clay and time. This is natural winemaking in its most ancient form — though not every qvevri wine made today follows it, so ask.

The result is amber wine — white grapes that have spent months on their skins, extracting color, tannin, and extraordinary complexity. Georgian amber wines taste like nothing else: dried apricot, walnut, honey, tea, and a texture that coats your entire mouth.

Key regions: Kakheti (the heartland), Kartli, and Imereti. Key grapes: Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Saperavi (red), and Kisi.

Producers to seek out: Pheasant's Tears, Iago's Wine, Lapati Wines, and Zurab Topuridze. You'll find them on natural wine lists around the world; ask for them by name. In Tbilisi itself, see Natural wine in Tbilisi for the bars and shops we have proof for.

Georgia isn't just part of natural wine history. It IS natural wine history. Every orange wine, every skin-contact white, every amphora-aged bottle owes a debt to the qvevri.