Why?

K’AVSHIRI is one of the most complicated wines in the world, a combination of: grape varieties, regions, techniques and (in the case of the red and white) vintages.

Why go to all this trouble?

Why not? Does anyone ask a chef or a mixologist why they spend so much time and effort experimenting and creating new dishes and cocktails?

Why blend grape varieties?

Blending varieties is not new. Historically, many different varieties were often grown in the same vineyards (leading to the ‘field blends that are still occasionally produced today). Bordeaux, Rioja, Chianti and Champagne are all examples of respected modern blends. Châteauneuf du Pape can legally be made from a mixture of 13 grapes; Côte Rôtie is a blend of red and white grapes.

Anybody who has tried to blend wine, or done any cooking, will know how much influence even a small amount of an ingredient - one or two percent - can have.

In Georgia, there are many rare grape, grown nowhere outside Georgia, and varieties with really small acreages there: 20 to100ha for the entire country for some cases. We wanted to work with a number of these grapes and to discover what they could contribute to the final wine.

When we began the project, we had no idea of which or how many varieties would be included, or the part they would play. We did not expect Ojaleshi, for example, to take the lead role in the rosé.

What we do know is that, whilst a Beethoven piano étude is a beautiful work of art, so are the same composer’s quartets and his 9th symphony. If having more than one instrument can contribute to a piece of music, why should the same not be true of wine.

Why include non-Georgian varieties?

Again, why not? Are Italian chefs obliged only to use ‘Italian’ ingredients (including the tomatoes, rice and pasta that were introduced from other countries a long time ago)?

Before Beethoven, symphonic composers rarely thought to include a piccolo in their orchestration. Ravel, Puccini and Rachmaninoff all found a place for the non-traditional saxophone in their music. Why should winemakers be more constrained than composers?

Ninety-five percent of the 2022 red and 2023 white K’AVSHIRI assemblages are made from Georgian varieties. The Aligoté and Muscat that are used in the white and the Merlot that’s in the red, are only small parts of the blend, but they contribute hugely. Will they always be included? Not necessarily. Might they play a bigger part? Who knows? Every assemblage is different.

Why different regions?

If we were going to bring together a range of grapes, this inevitably meant sourcing them from the soils and microclimates where they grow at their best.

Why different techniques?

Winemaking is a craft, and craftsmen use a range of tools. It is common to ferment grape juice in stainless steel or concrete before maturing wine in - new or older - oak barrels. All we have done is expand the number of tools and techniques, using both qvevri amphora and stainless steel tanks to ferment white grapes on their skins, and air-drying Aladasturi black grapes, and co-fermenting Saperavi black grapes and Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane white ones for the red and rosé. None of these techniques is revolutionary. We are unusual in deciding to combine their use when making a single wine.

Why air-dry those Aladasturi grapes?

Aladasturi was once a widely grown variety, but today it is very rare, with probably less than 90ha of vineyards across Georgia (though, this figure is growing as new vines are planted). It is a late ripener which, in the humid regions where it is found, leads to problems of vine disease. So, Vladimer Kublashvili inventively addressed the problem by picking the grapes when they are healthy, with a potential strength of 11%, and hanging them to dry and ripen further (to around 12%) for 10-11 days in open-sided sheds. This adaptation of an Italian technique - appassimento - was revolutionary in Georgia, and is still used almost nowhere else in the country.

Why blend vintages?

Once again, this used to be common in many regions. Most notably, Spain’s legendary Vega Sicilia’s ‘Unico Reserva Especial’ follows the historic tradition of Spanish wineries bottling two wines every year: one from the latest harvest; the other a mixture of wines from a number of the best vintages. Champagne has, of course, adopted the same model: offering customers a choice of vintage and non-vintage. There is no logical reason why still wines should not benefit from the same freedom as Krug and Vega Sicilia.

Why do we say ‘Assemblage’ and ‘multi-vintage’ rather than ‘non-vintage’?

Because we believe in transparency.

Many winemakers routinely take advantage of laws that allow them to add as much as 15% - or even, in some regions, 25% - or at least one glass in every bottle of earlier or later vintages without revealing they have done so. Blending vintages that has always happened over the centuries and, when it’s done well, there’s nothing wrong with judiciously improving the quality and style of the wine that will end up in the bottle. Apart from printing misleading information on the label.

But… When we set out to produce K’AVSHIRI - a wine unlike any that has been made before - we wanted to invite people to join us on this journey and, for those who are interested, to know precisely what went into each release or ‘assemblage’.

Our philosophy may still set us apart from other still wines but it is totally in line with top Champagne houses like Roederer, Krug, Jacquesson and Laurent Perrier, all of which release individual multi-vintage ‘editions’. We are modestly proud to share their way of thinking.

What has all this to do with climate change?

Most people associate the changing climate with rising temperatures, and this is certainly a factor. But of far greater concern is the increased variability of each year’s growing conditions. Apart from floods, drought and fires, there are the hailstorms, five of which destroyed all of Vladimer Kublashvili’s Kisi grapes in 2023. We believe that wine producers everywhere will soon be introducing multi-vintage wines of their own. K’AVSHIRI is simply a very early adopter of an inevitable trend.

And the future?

Future releases may have more or less wine from other harvests, or even none, depending on what we think will make the best final blend. Whatever we decide, we’ll reveal it on the back label of every bottle. - along with the list of the grape varieties.