My interest in K’AVSHIRI wine was piqued when I saw my friend Robert Joseph at a Stand he had rented  at the entrance of Wine Future Conference in Coimbra, Portugal in November 2023, displaying these Georgian wines and also tasting the White variant. It was Love- at- first- Sip and I decided to visit the winery in December 2023, after the Vinexpo India took place in Delhi in December, 2023 where I was deeply involved.

Journey of the Duo

For each of the two winemakers it has been an individual journey of success and achievement. No two paths can be alike but the converging point between the winemaker of an erstwhile State of the USSR and a progressive and a prophetic (and at times controversial) journalist, author and winemaker that have come together and worked for 5 years to introduce a wine pair of red and white, that I feel is outstanding, justifying the label K’AVSHIRI, the Georgian word that translates into a ‘converging point’ or ‘coming together’.

I met Robert Joseph, whom I have known for decades, in Georgia during my first trip in 2014 to that beautiful and historical wine country, known as the Cradle of Wine. He was there as a consultant to some winery and I am not sure if he had already met Vladimer Kublashvili  of Winery Khareba where he is the Chief Winemaker and Deputy Managing Director now. (I had visited the winery then but not met Vladimer). Both met and decided to make wine together as a project.

The duo had set out in 2018 to make a totally original wine that showcased a range of Georgian grape varieties including a rare variety and also traditional qvevri winemaking.

The K’AVSHIRI Wine Duo

The seeds of K’AVSHIRI were sown in 1988 when Robert, then wine critic of the London Sunday Telegraph and founder-chairman of the International Wine Challenge, made his first visit to Georgia. As a part of the Soviet Union, it was a different country, but he was fascinated by the architecture, the language, the delicious cuisine and wines like he had never had before.

Robert says he met Vladimer in 2018 after many visits to Georgia and was struck by his talent and innovative imagination. After an extensive tasting of wines made from indigenous Georgian grapes in the Kakheti and Imereti regions, the two men discussed and agreed upon the possibility of working together to make a rather unique wine, in both white and red variants.

Also Read : K.I.S.S. Georgia: Visiting Winery Khareba- Part 2

Symphony of grapes, region, vintages and winemaking styles

The two maestros wanted to use a mosaic of Georgian grape varieties, soils, microclimates and techniques, including the traditional method of making wines in qvevri. Although both of them had been making wines from single varieties or a maximum of 2-3 varieties, they wanted to create a white wine that was Georgian in appearance but also had a fine wine character- a sort of the iconic Mas de Daumas Gassac, the IGP out-of-the-box wine with multiple grape varieties and complementary components, in Languedoc France.

The first experimental white blends were made in 2019, followed by another attempt in Post-Covid 2022, learning more about the way the grape varieties interacted with each other and the role qvevri fermentation and a subtle touch of oak could play. They kept on experimenting with different grape varieties and proportions till they came to the final blend which was to their satisfaction when it was launched in 2023 with about 1000 bottles.

Also Read : Wine Travels Feature: K.I.S.S. Georgia- the Cradle of Wine in Europe

What they were doing was writing and orchestrating a piece of music by adding and removing instruments until the harmony was just right. Robert was surprised by the difference made by adding a mere 3% of Aligoté grapes from Burgundy. Similarly it was Vladimer’s idea to add a touch of Muscat to add to the fruitiness of the final blend, making it a 4.5% presence of international grapes in an otherwise beautiful symphony of Georgian grapes. The grapes were from the two regions and wines from earlier vintages were also a part of the blend. In fact, that is why the duo likes to call wine in each year as an assemblage year, rather than a vintage. A different form of winemaking and ageing as also the mixing of two styles of wines that include the traditional Quevri as well were also a part of blending.

Grapes for the 2023 vintage include the white grapes- Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, Tsitska, Krakhuna, Tsolikouri, Khikhvi, Aligoté, Muscat and Kisi. Kakheti region supplied 58% while 42% of the grapes were collected from the second region Imereti.

Also Read : Wine and Food Travel: Qvevri Wine Making Tradition of Georgia

The final wine contains the wine from 2023 (only 52.4%), 2022 (6.4%), 2021 (4.8%) and 2017 (10%). The balance 26.4% comes from the Assemblage of 26.4%.

It gets more complicated when the maestros tell you that of the total wine components, 10% are aged wines, 4.8% have had skin contact whereas 11.7% have been fermented in the Qvevri wine.  It is interesting and encouraging to note that the alcohol content is a reasonable 12.5%, less than the 13.3 % in the 2022 Assemblage.

K’AVSHIRI RED 2023

The red wine on the other hand is even more complex and has grapes mostly from Kakheti (75%). Besides Imereti (9%), it also has grapes from the other wine regions of Georgia – Samegrelo (6%), Racha (5%) and Lechkhumi (5%).

Also Read : K.I.S.S. Georgia-the Oldest Wine Producing Nation

The 2023 Assemblage constitutes 42% of 2023, while 2022 (33%), 2021 (15%), 2020 (2%) and 2017 (8%) are also a part of the blend.

The wine contains unspecified proportion of the most grown red wine grape of Georgia- Saperavi, besides Usakhelouri, Ojasleshi, Merlot, Aleksandrouli, Otskhanuri, Sapere, and two white grapes Mtsvane and Rkatsiteli. It also contains the rare Aladasturi grapes that were dried for 10 days before fermentation.

The blend also contains 10% of aged wine whereas Qvevri forms a similar portion (11%) as the white wine. The wine also has a low alcohol percentage of 13.5 %.

Both these wines will age for many years, especially the red wine.  I loved the white wine which was very complex, elegant, fruity and well balanced. It was full on the mouthfeel and even had a very good length. The red wine was still tight and needed time to mature but had silky tannins. Both these wines are unique in personality and character. Though a bit rustic due to the Qvevri components, they also boast of a Georgian terroir.

This Georgian duo with international attire is bound to tickle your fancy and create waves in the wine connoisseur circles and if you can get hold of a bottle (available in Georgia for around $30 a bottle), go for it. You may store the white for at least 5 Years (serve at 10°C) and the red for perhaps 10 years or more (Serve at 18°C).

Subhash Arora