Qvevri wine

What it is

Qvevri wine is Georgian wine fermented, matured and often stored in a qvevri (ქვევრი), a large earthenware vessel, usually egg-shaped, made of fired clay and buried in the ground up to its neck. The wine itself is called ქვევრის ღვინო. It is made across Georgia, mostly in family cellars and village communities, from regional grape varieties and inherited knowledge.

The raw material is wine grape, Vitis vinifera. Depending on the regional method, the crushed grapes go into the vessel with their skins, pips and sometimes stems, together called chacha (ჭაჭა). Some methods use only part of this solid material, and some wines get little skin contact. Qvevri wine is therefore not one drink: it includes white, amber, red and other styles. Amber wine is the best known, made by leaving white grape juice on its skins, which gives deeper colour and more tannin.

The vessel shapes the process without making the wine. Buried clay changes temperature slowly, and the narrow bottom collects skins, pips and yeast sediment as they settle, leaving clearer wine above. Alcohol comes from yeasts fermenting the grape sugar, while contact with skins, seeds and stems changes the wine's colour, flavour and phenolic make-up.

The National Wine Agency gives common qvevri capacities of about 1,000 to 2,000 litres, with very large Kakhetian vessels holding 6,000 to 8,000 litres. Many Imeretian vessels are smaller. A qvevri is a fixed fermentation vessel, not a transport amphora, and it normally stays buried for its working life. The cellar is called a marani (მარანი) and the grape harvest rtveli (რთველი).

Qvevri wine is not automatically natural, organic, unsulphured or made without control. Some documented family producers rely on spontaneous fermentation without commercial yeast, while other winemakers use selected cultures and modern controls. What defines the wine is the traditional vessel and its part in the process. UNESCO recognised the inherited method in 2013, covering qvevri making, grape growing, fermentation, maturation and the passing on of practical knowledge.

History

Georgia has some of the earliest chemically supported evidence of grape wine. A 2017 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined pottery residues from Gadachrili Gora and Shulaveris Gora in Kvemo Kartli and found grape wine from about 6000 to 5800 BCE. The large Neolithic vessels may have been used for fermenting, ageing and serving. The researchers did not equate them with the later, identifiable qvevri tradition, and early wine is not proof that the full buried-vessel method already existed.

The same study dates the earliest evidence specifically attributed to qvevri winemaking in Georgia to the Iron Age, about the eighth to seventh centuries BCE, and notes a large archaeological gap between the Neolithic vessels and the later buried installations. The claim that today's recipe was followed unchanged eight thousand years ago goes further than the archaeology shows.

Winemaking later developed differently in eastern and western Georgia, with different grape varieties, cellar layouts and vessel names. Kakheti became associated with large buried qvevri and long contact with the grape solids. In Imereti the vessel is often called churi and fewer solids are used. Monastic and household winemaking kept the craft alive through periods of political and economic change. When individual regional practices became established is not known.

The tradition survives in families, villages and pottery workshops. Qvevri are made in Atsana in Guria, in Shrosha and neighbouring settlements in Imereti, and in Vardisubani in Kakheti. Potters build the vessels gradually from clay, dry them and fire them in kilns. Both pottery and winemaking are learned by watching and doing, and UNESCO describes children learning vineyard care, pressing, clay preparation and fermentation from relatives and neighbours.

Georgia gave the method national intangible heritage status in March 2012, and UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. These are modern milestones in protecting a living craft, not dates of origin, and they leave room for regional differences and technical change.

How it works: microbiology, enzymes and chemistry

Qvevri wine starts with alcoholic fermentation of the sugars in grape juice. Yeasts break glucose and fructose down by glycolysis to pyruvate, gaining a little ATP. In fermentation, pyruvate becomes acetaldehyde and then ethanol, releasing carbon dioxide and regenerating NAD+. Grape juice also holds tartaric and malic acids, nitrogen compounds, minerals and phenolic precursors, all of which affect fermentation, acidity, flavour and stability.

The microbes differ from one qvevri to the next. A 2016 study sampled grapes and wines from 22 Georgian cultivars, 26 vineyards and 19 family cellars in five regions, and recovered 182 yeast isolates from 15 species. Metschnikowia pulcherrima and Hanseniaspora guilliermondii were prominent on the grapes, while Saccharomyces cerevisiae was most common in the wines. A separate study of ten Kakhetian vessels after a year of maturation recovered 260 yeast isolates, all Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The two studies sampled different stages, so they do not show that every traditional wine starts from a pure Saccharomyces culture.

Extended maceration drives the chemistry of many qvevri wines. Contact with skins, pips and sometimes stems extracts flavanols, tannins, pigments, phenolic acids and aroma compounds. In white-grape wines this gives golden or amber colour and more astringency than a quickly pressed white wine. In red wines, anthocyanins and other phenolics shape colour and structure. The result depends on the grape variety and ripeness, the share of solids, the length of maceration and how often the floating cap is mixed back into the juice.

Malolactic fermentation may follow or overlap alcoholic fermentation. Suitable lactic acid bacteria turn malic acid into lactic acid and carbon dioxide, which usually softens the wine. The National Wine Agency describes waiting for malolactic activity to finish before sealing certain Kakhetian qvevri. A 2023 experiment that compared spontaneous qvevri fermentation with stainless-steel controls saw differences in yeast and lactic acid bacteria activity. It used Auxerrois grapes in Japan, so its results are not Georgian cellar conditions.

The clay also changes the wine's surroundings. Burial buffers temperature swings, and the vessel's shape lets solids settle to the bottom. Oxygen transfer and mineral exchange with the clay may be limited, but they depend on the clay, the firing, any coating and the vessel's condition. In the 2023 experiment, qvevri wine had about twice the iron and manganese of the stainless-steel controls. That shows a vessel effect in one experiment; it is not a typical level and not a health benefit.

How it is made and why each ingredient and step matters

Production starts with ripe wine grapes and a clean qvevri. Before the harvest the vessel is emptied, scrubbed, washed and inspected. Traditional brushes are made from cherry bark, plant roots or stiff branches. Some vessels are lined inside with beeswax and others rely on the fired clay surface, and sulphur fumigation is a documented traditional sanitation treatment. Practice differs between workshops and producers, and there is no single validated cleaning concentration or schedule.

During rtveli the grapes are picked, sorted and pressed. A wooden or stone trough called a satsnakheli may be used, though modern crushers and presses are also common. The aim is to free the juice without damaging the pips and stems. The juice goes into the qvevri with the chosen amount of skins, pips and sometimes stalks. In a traditional Kakhetian wine all or nearly all of the chacha may ferment with the juice. The proportion is a regional and producer decision, not a formula by weight.

Fermentation starts as yeasts from the must and the cellar become active. Rising carbon dioxide pushes skins and other solids to the surface as a cap. The National Wine Agency describes stirring four or five times a day. The producer 39 Qvevri stirs four times a day and ferments for about 10 to 14 days, sometimes longer. Stirring spreads the solids back through the juice, helps extraction and keeps the cap in check. These figures describe documented processes and are not required for every qvevri.

After alcoholic fermentation the solids begin to settle. The vessel may first be closed without being made airtight while gas is still being produced. Once fermentation, and any malolactic conversion that is wanted, is finished, the opening is sealed for maturation. The National Wine Agency describes Kakhetian white wine staying on its chacha until spring, while red wine may come off the solids after about 7 to 10 days, or up to two weeks. The cellar, grape variety and intended style decide the real period.

The wine is then drawn off the settled chacha into another clean qvevri, a barrel or another suitable vessel. The 39 Qvevri producer racks in March or early April and ages the wine for about another year, checking it each month and topping it up. That is one producer's method. The National Wine Agency describes a similar spring racking, but neither gives a batch quantity, sugar level, yeast dose or fermentation temperature, and a practical recipe has to leave those open.

Regional and historical variations

No single qvevri method is used throughout Georgia. The best-known split is between Kakheti in the east and Imereti in the west. In Kakheti, white grapes such as Rkatsiteli, Kakhuri Mtsvane, Kisi and Khikhvi may ferment with most or all of their skins and pips, and sometimes ripe stems. Contact with the solids can last into spring and gives amber colour and strong tannin. Saperavi is a major red variety, but its skin contact is usually shorter than for traditional Kakhetian amber wine.

In Imereti the vessel is usually called churi (ჭური). Traditional white varieties include Tsitska, Tsolikauri and Krakhuna. Winemakers generally use less chacha than in Kakheti and often leave out stems. The National Wine Agency says no more than one-third of the available chacha is added, while a 2016 microbiology paper describes an Imeretian method using 2.5 to 3.0 percent. The two figures have different bases and cannot be merged into one proportion. The National Wine Agency describes Imeretian wine staying in churi for around two months before it is separated from the pulp.

Kartli keeps traditions with varieties such as Chinuri, Goruli Mtsvane, Tavkveri and Shavkapito, and makes wine both in qvevri and by European-style methods. In Racha-Lechkhumi the main varieties include Aleksandrouli, Mujuretuli, Tsolikauri and Usakhelauri, and the wines differ from Kakhetian amber wines because of climate, fruit and local choices. A wine made from a Georgian grape is not automatically qvevri wine: the vessel and processing method decide.

The western coastal regions of Guria, Samegrelo and Adjara have their own practices. Chkhaveri, Jani and Ojaleshi are among the varieties the National Wine Agency records there. Vineyards in parts of western Georgia were traditionally trained high above the ground, and harvest could come much later than in Kakheti. In some western regions the qvevri or churi may stand outdoors rather than in an enclosed cellar, and smaller family vessels are common.

Other variations include white wine fermented in qvevri without skins, rosé and red wines, and modern low-intervention or selected-yeast versions. The National Wine Agency also names zedashe, a wine linked to church rituals; it differs in use and handling, not in fermentation mechanism. The word chacha can mean the grape pomace used in fermentation or the distilled grape spirit made from it, and the two should be kept apart.

How it is drunk and used

Qvevri wine is drunk in Georgian homes, restaurants, cellars, monasteries and gatherings. Making it is tied to rtveli, the yearly grape harvest. UNESCO documents how family, friends and neighbours pick and press the grapes and prepare the qvevri, and how children learn by watching older relatives. The harvest is farm work and a social event at once, not a task for one specialist.

The marani holds a special place in domestic life. UNESCO describes it as linked to family identity, inherited knowledge and religious tradition. Wine is shared at everyday meals and at the Georgian feast called a supra, where a tamada leads the toasts and guests drink, talk, sing and share food. There is no one required glass or drinking temperature for qvevri wine.

Traditional Kakhetian amber wines are usually golden, amber or tea-coloured, with a full texture and clear tannin. Depending on the grape and the maturation they can smell of dried fruit, herbs, nuts or tea. These notes come from the grapes and the fermentation, not from added ingredients. Imeretian white wines are often lighter in colour and body because less skin and seed material is used. Red qvevri wines vary in colour and structure with the grape variety and contact time.

Qvevri wine has religious uses too. The National Wine Agency names zedashe wine for church rituals, and UNESCO describes the religious and ceremonial weight of the wine tradition as a whole. This does not mean every monastery or church picks grapes, treats vessels or matures wine in the same way. The cultural role is better documented than any ceremonial recipe.

The solids left when the wine is drawn off can be used further, and grape pomace is traditionally linked to the distilled spirit chacha. Distilling is a separate process and not a step in making qvevri wine. Qvevri are also prized craft objects, and pottery workshops and wine cellars draw visitors who want to see how the wine is made. The vessel, the cellar and the shared harvest are part of the wine's identity.

Reading results and problems

Judge a qvevri fermentation by what the must is doing, not by how long it has been in the vessel. Active fermentation produces carbon dioxide, heat and a floating cap of grape solids, which has to be managed according to the producer's process. As fermentation slows, solids settle and the wine begins to clear. The National Wine Agency gives a traditional stirring rate of four or five times a day, but neither stirring nor a sunken cap shows that all the fermentable sugar is used up or that the wine is stable.

Temperature is uncertain. The National Wine Agency says buried qvevri stay at about 13 to 15 °C, but that is not a measured fermentation temperature for every vessel. Fermentation makes heat, and real conditions depend on the vessel size, depth, soil, outside temperature and amount of grapes. A study of Kakhetian wines describes about 20 to 23 °C during active fermentation and lower temperatures during maturation. These come from different settings and do not contradict each other. Temperature and fermentation progress each need their own monitoring.

Spoilage is possible even where spontaneous fermentation is traditional. Unwanted yeasts or bacteria can cause too much volatile acidity, solvent-like smells, odd surface films and other faults. Long contact with the solids can also push bitterness or astringency past the intended style. Oxygen, vessel cleanliness and grape condition all play a part. That some family wineries use no commercial yeast or added sulphur dioxide does not mean every untreated fermentation will turn out well or safely.

The vessel's condition matters a great deal. Qvevri are porous fired clay, sometimes lined with beeswax. Cracks, unsuitable coatings, leftover residues or poor cleaning can contaminate the wine. The International Organisation of Vine and Wine lists chemical residues from cleaning products, unsuitable food-contact materials and metal contamination among wine-production hazards. The Japanese experiment found more iron and manganese in qvevri wine than in stainless-steel controls, but that cannot be applied to every Georgian vessel. The clay, the firing and any lining each need checking.

There are physical hazards as well. Fermentation produces carbon dioxide that can collect in poorly ventilated cellars or inside large vessels, and going into a qvevri to clean it is confined-space work that needs a professional safety procedure. Freshly harvested grapes can carry moulds that make ochratoxin A, and the OIV advises rejecting mould-damaged fruit instead of assuming fermentation will remove the hazard. Historic descriptions of lime, plant brushes and sulphur fumigation give no validated concentrations or safe exposure procedures.

Before storing or bottling, check the finished wine for completed fermentation, acidity, volatile acidity and microbial condition. Amber colour, sediment and noticeable tannin can be normal, but they are not signs of safety. A sharp vinegar smell, extensive spoilage growth, a damaged vessel or gas production that will not stop needs investigation. No single pH, minimum alcohol, residual sugar limit, storage temperature or shelf life applies to all qvevri wine. The tradition is a family of production systems that needs careful control, not one fixed fermentation schedule.