Nikoladzeebis Marani

Nakhshirgele, Imereti

Ramaz considers his great grandfather Mina Nikoladze to be the founder of Nikoladzeebis Marani. Mina cultivated a vineyard and built a marani in the village of Nakhshirgele. He was considered the leading winemaker of the village, but when the Soviets invaded, they forced him to hand over his vineyards to the state. Leaving Mina with only 0.5HA for his own family’s consumption. The Nikoladze family has always made wine from this land and when Ramaz realised he wanted to pursue a winemaking career in 2004, he needed to cultivate more vines for the opportunity to grow. A decade later in 2014, he was able to purchase the land stolen from his family by the soviets and replanted it with the same grape varieties his great grandfather cultivated over 100 years ago.

The vineyards are located in the village of Nakhshirgele in the Baghdati municipality in Imereti. They are 150m above sea level and planted to Tsitska & Tsolikouri. The first is clay soil with flint rock and was planted by his great grandfather, it is over 100 years old. The second is a newly planted vineyard which is clay soil with limestone.