Kakheti
Georgia
- Latitude
- 41.74°N
- Longitude
- 45.80°E
- Altitude
- 300–750 m
Georgia’s eastern wine heartland, centred on the Alazani and Iori basins, where Saperavi, qvevri and a long viticultural tradition meet.
Photograph: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
The place
Kakheti is Georgia’s principal wine region, with its vineyards concentrated in the Alazani and Iori basins. The National Wine Agency places many of the region’s best-quality vineyards at roughly 400–700 metres above sea level, across humus-carbonate, black and alluvial soils.
Here, wine is inseparable from the qvevri: a clay vessel in which Georgian wines can be fermented, made and aged. In Kakheti, qvevri are traditionally buried in the cellar, where the earth helps maintain a remarkably stable temperature. The method was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013.
Saperavi is the region’s most widely planted grape, made both in qvevri and in European-style wines. What makes Kakheti compelling is not simply its antiquity, but the way an old method remains part of living wine culture.
