Ultimate guide to Georgian wine
  1. Introduction
  2. Full disclosure
  3. Where to find
  4. Contact
  5. Location on the map

Introduction

Holding a truly natural approach, the Gotsadze family produces not only wine, beer, cider and pet-nat (fizzy wine), but also hard cheese and pasta. Offering accommodation in a small guesthouse located next to the cellar coupled with Georgian gastronomy courses, the estate brings about the unforgettable experience from the visit.

Full disclosure

Unafraid to challenge long-standing traditions, Beka produces uncanny wines from his vineyard located in the nearby Asureti village. 14 grape varieties are co-planted for wider eco-diversity. The story began in 2012, when the family decided to plant more than twenty thousand vines. A year later, half of them died because of unexpected arid weather. Without doubt, Beka wasn’t ready to give up, so he replanted and installed a precise drip-irrigation system to help the wines to pass through challenging hot summers. For over two years now, Gotsa winery holds both organic and biodynamic certificates proving its excellence in winegrowing.

Before producing wines solely from their own grapes, as many other Georgian wineries, Gotsa was buying from the winegrowers. Despite controlling the inbound quality, Beka aimed to release his own terroir wine. After acquiring the vineyard, each vine has been planted so as to produce no more than 1.5 kg of grapes. It ends up exactly in just one bottle of wine per plant, contrary to bulk production of former Soviet factories.

As a professional architect, Beka literally builds the estate by himself. Apart from the developed state-of-the-art one and only in Georgia qvevri temperature-control system, Beka set up his own lab too. “It is crucial to control residual sugar and volatile acidity, as any correcting measures are forbidden by the associations I belong to”, he proclaims.

Moving to the wines, dry as a bone soil of the Gotsa’s terroir unveils black as ink Saperavi. The licorice and black tea flavors resemble the rather famous Khashmi Saperavi, a grand cru of the grape, than an anonymous plot in Asureti where one has to be courageous to grow vines.

Thin-skin Chkhaveri grapes give fragrant naturally semi-sweet wine due to high sugars accumulated in the subtropical climate of Guria, a region where Beka holds a small land parcel. This red grape pomace is added to fermenting white wines to reinforce their bronze colour and savoury aroma profile.

Deep amber Tsitska and Tsolikouri blend leaves qvevri after six months of skin contact, which is highly unusual for these Imeretian grapes, generally giving light straw color quaff. Imeretian natural wine stars Ramaz Nikoladze and Archil Guniava teased Beka to dare the style. And it comes out of qvevri as a complete and elegant full-body orange wine.

It takes 16 months for all the wines to mature, mostly in qvevri. “These days, we are financially able to hold the wines in the cellar and release them to the market two years after the harvest”, says Beka. It might be risky to bottle the natural wine next summer after the vintage, as they may become unstable during deep-sea transportation to Australia or the U.S.

For now, Gotsa winery releases around 15 thousand bottles a year and Beka has no plan for substantial expansion, “We are happy with what we have reached so far. Certainly, we have a plan to acquire one more hectare to adjoin with the main vineyard. But apart from that, we wish to keep our winemaking out of commercial hassle”.

Where to find

Locally: Tbilisi's natural wine bars (Ghvino Underground, G.vino, Living Vino, Dadi wine bar).

Abroad: Ukraine (Goodwine), Japan, the U.S. (NY, CA: Black Lamb wine), Poland (Darwina.pl), Germany and the EU (Naturwein Georgien).

At fairs: RAW WINE (Worldwide), Amerimeri (Georgia, Kutaisi), Zero Compromise (Georgia, Tbilisi).

Contact

Call Beka at: +995-599-509-033. Mailto: bgotsa@gmail.com

Any wine comments?