The Makaridze family has a long history of viticulture in the village of Terjola in Georgia’s central western Imereti region. Grapes had always been cultivated, but mostly to sell as cuttings and wine was originally produced only for home consumption. When he was twenty-three, Gogita finally realised that his calling was to continue this tradition of winegrowing. He consequently quit his job at the financial department of the local town hall and invested everything he had in planting vines of Otskhanuri Sapere on 1ha. He proceeded to renovate and enlarge the family wine cellar by adding more qvevris (and now has eleven in total). His objective (with his partner, Keti) is to create the link between the vineyards and the surrounding environment through the wines and produce natural wines that express the authenticity of the vintage, the nature of the soil and climate and the traditions of Imeretian winemaking.
The Makaridzes own several small vineyard plots in Terjola, all planted in dark red clay over limestone, 150m above sea level. The soil is never ploughed; nor herbicide or pesticides used. They are trying to enhance biodiversity to ensure that plant roots, earthworms and bacteria thrive, helping to improve soil structure and health naturally.
Winemaking for the whites is always the same. The grapes are manually harvested and then directly pressed with pure juice without skins and stems being poured into the qvevri. The wine ferments with native yeasts and stays in clay for nine to ten months before being racked into tank and is bottled without filtration, fining or added sulphites.
The Tsolikouri from 86-year-old vines is relatively light-bodied and is marked by pleasing acidity. Aromas of apricot, lychee and citrus-vanilla are evident in the glass, whilst the texture is quite buttery accompanied with tingly acidity.
The Tsitska is vibrant, salty and mineral with notes of meadow-blossom and citrus. A delicious white wine, crisp, clean, and classy.
Cuvée 09 used to be called Tsitska-Otskhanuri Sapere as it was the blend of these two varieties, but for bureaucratic reasons this had to be changed. As this cuveé was first bottled in 2009, Gogita and Keti decided to name it Cuvée 09.
The blend is harvested in two stages. Tsitska is taken first. Grapes are crushed with hand crank crushers, pressed and pure juice is fermented without skin contact spontaneously with native (wild) yeast in qvevri. Otskhanuri Sapere is harvested a week later. Grapes are destemmed manually and without pressing the crushed berries are added to the juice of Tsitska to ferment spontaneously. Four weeks later the wine is removed from the skins of Otskhanuri Sapere. After eight months of ageing in qvevri, the wine is moved into stainless tanks, wherein it is kept for an additional month before being bottled unfined, unfiltered and without any added sulphites.
This blend of fruity, sparkling white Tsitska and the very intense, tannic red Otskhanuri Sapere is an unexpected marriage of contrasts. The wine has lighter body than most reds, is sappy and mouthwatering with plenty of acidity accompanied with mineral tones, herbal notes and a smoky tinge with plenty of blueberries, wild strawberries and blackberries.
The Otskhanuri grape is very much a feature of Terjola village and surrounds, and Gogita appreciates it for its distinctiveness. His rosé version is 100% Otskhanuri with the grapes destemmed by hand crusher and (without pressing) the free-run juice ferments without skins on indigenous yeasts in qvevri. After completing alcoholic fermentation wine continued ageing in qvevri for seven months. On the light side this rosé is pleasantly reductive on the nose and sports aromas of wild forest berries and dried flowers, with a touch of salinity on the finish.
The full-on version of the Otskhanuri Sapere is treated in a different way to soften its natural edges. The grapes were harvested at the beginning of November and laid out in whole bunches on the floor of the attic for five days, to allow the grapes to dry. These whole bunches were then fed into the stainless-steel tank, 5-litres of juice added and it was sealed. Once the juice started to ferment it released CO2, which allowed the carbonic maceration process to kick off. After 15 days the bunches were pressed off and the resultant juice poured into qvevri to age for seven months. Medium–full body, aromas of ripe black berries, plums, black currant with silky tannins and mellow acidity.
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We are lucky to work with some of the finest wineries in the region. Ramaz Nikoladze, a real force in Georgian wine politics, makes brilliant wines that are now internationally recognised. Although he favours no-skin, no-stem classic Imeretian winemaking (using old-vines Tsitska and Tsolikouri from his tiny home-vineyard plot of 1 ha), he also experiments with skin-contact (in his Solikouri wine, for example). His white Tsolikouri from the limestone rich terroir of Lechkhumi is special and not unlike an excellent Chablis. Archil Guniava is highly respected vigneron and mentor to many others. All his wines are fermented and aged in qvevri and undergo a small portion of maceration for part of the must which gives them their golden colour and spicy mouthfeel. He also makes a wine from the lesser-seen Dondghlabi grape. And two, sometimes three reds, a super light, almost dark-rosé style Dzelshavi and an inky-dark Otskhanuri Sapere (which, despite the fact that the blend has a big dollop of Tsolikouri is still major and impressive mouthful of black al dente fruit!)
His daughter, Mariam, farms and makes wine in a village just a few kilometres away. Her wines are even lighter, delicate with the subtlest of skin-contact, bright and supple.
Aidan Raftery founded a company called Vintners and Vagabonds a few years ago and brought out a range of wines under the Igavi label. (The labels themselves are striking and evocative) Aidan is not afraid to work outside tradition and to follow his instinct and personal taste instead. His wines are light, edgy, snappy and saline, almost reminiscent of those from the Jura region of France. The wines from Lechkhumi, in particular, are marked by their high acidity and mineral undertow, thrillingly alternative at times.
When we first tried Gogita and Keti’s range of wines, we couldn’t resist taking them on. Their purity, their frankness, and extreme drinkability, marked them out as wines that definitely needed to be added to our already extensive Georgian selection.
Makaridze Wine, Terjola, Imereti
2023 Tsitska
2023 Tsolikouri
2023 Otskhanuri Sapere Rosé
2023 Cuvée 09
2023 Otskhanuri Sapere
Try these and all our new Georgian arrivals on Monday 27th January at Lyle’s Restaurant (trade only).
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