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Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
2023 Qvevri Rkatsiteli, Vachnadziani Winery

2023 Qvevri Rkatsiteli, Vachnadziani Winery

Kakheti, Georgia

Amber silk with an ancient soul.

This is not your average white wine, and that is very much the point. Made from 100% Rkatsiteli in Kakheti, and crafted in the traditional Georgian qvevri style, this is an orange wine with real depth, shape and quiet authority. At Vachnadziani, the wine sees skin-contact fermentation in buried clay vessels, followed by around six months of maturation on skins, which gives it its amber hue, gentle tannic grip and layered, savoury complexity.

In the glass, it feels both powerful and precise. Green tea, dried orange peel and honeyed, toasty notes lead the way, followed by beeswax, dried herbs and a softly earthy warmth that makes the whole thing feel beautifully grounded. The palate is broad, textural and focused, with that lovely orange-wine grip sitting beneath flavours of citrus peel, orchard fruit and spice. There is richness here, but also freshness, so it never feels heavy, only composed, distinctive and deeply compelling. This is the kind of wine that unfolds slowly and keeps revealing new corners of itself as it opens.

For when: the food is generous, the conversation is curious, and you want a bottle that sparks both.
Pairs with: roast pork, grilled fish, spiced vegetables, hard cheeses, or a proper spread of Georgian dishes.
If this wine were a person, it would be thoughtful, worldly, quietly eccentric, and far more interesting the longer you spend with it.

Vachnadziani is one of Georgia’s long-established wineries, first founded in 1953, and today works across several of the country’s key wine regions while preserving Georgia’s ancient winemaking traditions alongside more modern cellar practices. Rkatsiteli is one of the country’s historic native grapes, and in this orange-wine expression, it feels especially at home, giving structure, freshness and that unmistakable sense of old-world craft that Georgia does so brilliantly.

Whats in the bottle
Rkatsiteli 100%

£19.95 - £19.95
£19.95
£19.95 - £19.95
£19.95
Availability:
In stock

Georgia is considered to be the ‘cradle of wine’, as 8,000 year-old indigenous Rkatsiteli grape seeds have been found in clay vessels. Vachnadziani was established in 1953 and is one of the oldest wineries in Georgia. During the Soviet years the vineyard fell into disrepair, but has since received significant investment. The aim is to preserve ancient wine culture while combining it with modern technology. With over 1,000 hectares of vineyard across Kakheti in eastern Georgia and Imereti, Racha and Lechkhumi in the west, Vachnadziani cultivates 25 vine varieties, the majority of which are indigenous, showcasing the character of this historic winemaking region.

The grapes were carefully sorted in the vineyard and then again upon arrival at the winery, berry by berry to ensure only the healthy, undamaged and best quality fruit was vinified. Skin-contact fermentation took place using the traditional Georgian method of clay jars known as Qvevri. These vessels have been recognised by UNESCO as a process of important cultural heritage. The Quevri in the Vachnadziani winery have a 950-litre capacity. The alcoholic fermentation lasted for one week, followed by a skin-contact maturation period of six months.