Beyond Amber and Envy: Georgian Wine in Focus
Organized by Sabiha Apaydın in coordination with the Georgian Wine Association, the Georgian Wine in Focus masterclass returned to Istanbul last week. And before anyone stops reading thinking we can’t get these wines in Turkey…we can! So read on, my friends!
Georgian Wine in Focus, 2026
In a recent article on SevenFityDaily, TRINK magazine cofounder, Paula Redes Sidore examined Georgian wine beyond its amber identity. Georgian wine has built an international following based on that identity, its use of qvevri (which, according to Robert Joseph during last year’s Georgian Wine in Focus is a surprisingly small amount), culture, and its embrace of native grapes.
But was it good? Arguably…ish? A few years ago, Lisa Granik MW wrote a piece for Club Oenologique, positing that too many hobbyist winemakers, while admirable in their enthusiasm, were hurting the industry’s potential. Clumsily made wine with no basis in wine science and relying largely on stories of how wine was made in the old days resulted in quite a lot of rustic wines. While some could be enjoyable, they weren’t going to drive the industry forward.
Much has changed in the few ensuing years. Georgian wine has started to turn a corner. While still respecting history and culture, new winemakers are approaching wine more scientifically and with a desire to understand their terroir and grapes…not just throw everything in a clay pot and hope for the best.
That’s one of the points behind Sabiha and the Georgian Wine Association organizing these events. Not only does it help those of us in the industry to know Georgian wine better, but it also (hopefully) inspires a desire to learn from our neighbors.
So, what does Georgia offer beyond amber? Let’s have a look at a couple of the wines available in Turkey.
Georgian Wines & Spirits GWS
GWS or the Georgian Wine & Spirits Company, is located in Telavi. It’s had a history almost as turbulent as modern Georgia’s! But since the early 1990s, with the help of investors, the Achinebuli Winery transformed into GWS, ultimately ending up in the hands of Pernod Ricard. Today, GWS is one of the largest wineries in Georgia with 400 hectares and producing 3.5 million bottles annually across multiple brands.
GWS Tamada Mtsvane, 2022
Mtsvane can be a confusing grape for us casual Georgian wine drinkers as it can refer to six different grapes. Much like Turkish black grapes called ‘Somewhere Karası’, Italian Nerellos, and Greek Mavros, Mtsvane means ‘green’ and is usually coupled with a place name. Goruli Mtsvane is the green grape from Gori, and Mtsvane Kakhuri is the green grape from Kakheti.
It’s a variety that oxidates easily. To help combat that, after the free run juice ferments in stainless steel tanks, the wine ages on its fine lees for up to 60 months according to GWS’s website. One wonders if that’s a typo. Then additional aging with French oak staves for six to eight months before final blending, fining, and filtration.
The final wine is a fruit and flower bomb with white peaches and tropical fruits (melon and banana), raw nuts, and orchard blossoms. A medium-bodied wine, it slips down easily with friendly acidity wrapped in silk.
Not for nothing but it paired well with Indonesian food.
GWS Vismino Kisi, 2022
Vismino means “I should be listening.” For this series, not only is each label inspired by music, it’s also made by music. In the case of the Vismino Kisi, Antonín Dvořák’s Slavonic Dances in E minor, Op. 72 No. 2. There’s a video on GWS’s website showing how they make these cool labels.
Kisi is an interesting grape that seems to be popping up with gratifying regularity these days. Grown pretty exclusively in Kakheti, there are suppositions that its a Rkatsiteli – Mtsvani cross. It’s remarkably similar in (vine) appearance to Rkatsiteli but also shares characteristics with Mtsvane. While we are seeing more of it now, phylloxera disaster and its vulnerability to diseases like powdery mildew and black rot kept its popularity from booming for quite a while.
GWS’s Kisi vineyards grow on a sloped plot on the northern bank of the Alazani River and the Greater Caucasus foothills. They sit at an altitude of 800 meters, with subsoil composed of clay, gravel, and some schists over a six-meter-thick limestone subsoil. From 2022 (the vintage I had), the Vismino line is farmed organically.
After fermenting in stainless steel, the wine aged on its fine lees in large French oak barrels for six to eight months. The winemaking notes for these were remarkably similar to those the website gave for the Mtsvane…so either GWS is incredibly formulaic in how it makes wine, regardless of grape variety, or they have a very lazy web administrator.
Initially, it’s the aromas of yellow fruits and flowers that rise from the glass. Reminiscent of a pear and pineapple fruit cocktail in syrup, tangy notes of citrus and grapefruit skin and a zingy acidity came together to make this a bright and enjoyable wine.
Baia’s Wine
Baia’s Wine wasn’t represented at the Georgian Wine in Focus event, but her story is relevant to the larger discussion that Paula raised in her article.
Born and raised in Obcha in western Georgia’s Imereti, Baia grew up in a family of traditional winemakers. After graduating from college, she moved to Tbilisi but soon found that urban life did not agree with her. She returned to Obcha to her family, the vines, and the agrarian lifestyle she preferred. In 2015, she, along with her two younger siblings, established Baia’s Wine. Not just a new winery, but a new way of making wine. They began focusing more on organic winemaking, extended maceration to three months, and treated every qvevri individually: “…more time was aligned for degustation to decide whether the liquid is ready for the further treatment; and the decision about what percent of the grape skin is used during fermentation and aging was given priority.”
Baia’s Wine Tsitska, 2022
Tsitska is considered one of the oldest grapevine varieties in Imereti. It’s a high-yielding and robust grape, able to withstand frosts, and has a high disease tolerance (except apparently to powdery mildew).
At Baia’s Wine, the grapes macerate for a month (or 15 days-the website says both). After pressing it goes [back] into qvevri (without the skins). There it ferments on native yeasts and rests for six months and is then bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Have you ever eaten a persimmon? This wine reminded me so much of them. Not just the flavor, which it had in spades along with stone fruit, but the texture. Persimmons are quite a tannic fruit, mirroring the wine’s structure and full-body.
So yes, this is an amber wine, even if it’s a pale amber. But that is itself something beyond that original amber identity. This was not a glowingly orange, chewy with tannins and hard to get through wine. It had complexity and elegance and was made taking the grape characteristics into account.
Beyond Amber and Envy
As Georgia moves beyond its amber identity, so too do I (try) to move on from my envy. While I have long admired Georgian wine, I’ve been frustrated that the industry managed to make such international headway while at least partially rested entirely on its cultural history rather than quality. Am I envious of that? For sure.
I had two paragraphs of my soap box speech about Turkish wine and its domestic and international struggles drafted before deleting them. That’s not what this post is about. It’s about applauding the success of our neighbors and building community and learning from one another. Because there’s no room in wine for envy
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