Ghvardzelashvili Marani

Telavi, Kakheti

Biography: Giorgi is not a winemaker by profession, he was in fact in the secret service, however he feels that being Georgia, winemaking is genetic, His grandfather was pushing him to return to the village of Kondoli where his family has always lived and leave the city life of Tbilisi behind him. He fulfilled this wish in 2014. He renovated the marani around his grandfathers lives work and the kvevri made by his hands now holds pride of place in the yard as you arrive. He works with an incredibly rare red variety called Jghia and was the first to ever bottle it, there are now just four producers of this variety in Georgia. The whole family is involved in the process, a true family winery. They squeeze the juice by their hands, pour it into the bottle and even apply the labels by hand. Their goal is quality, not quantity and only work with their own old vineyards producing a maximum of 5,000 bottles. They produce all their wine in the traditional Georgian way, like their ancestors, on full skins and stems.