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

Introduction

A female winemaker, Tinatin creates wines under the eponymous label in her cellar located right in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Doing a man-size job, she narrows the gender gap with incredibly delicious Saperavi, Mtsvane and Chinuri.

Full disclosure

Tinatin Jakhua leads a double life. With quite an ordinary job of a PR-manager, she is a founder of her own little winery, where with friends they vinify the wines they like. And certainly, it is not just an amateur hobby, but rather a call of passion.

Both the winery and its owner bear the name of the grandmother, who was brave enough to tend her vineyard in the Samegrelo region of the western Georgia alone and to make the wine on her own too. The rest of the family lived far out in the country’s capital and was unable to engage. Her exemplary generosity, diligence and feminine wisdom inspired the granddaughter to spring up in natural winemaking.

At the very beginning of the path, the choice of the varieties to work with was crucial. “I rely not only on grapes I personally favour, but the quality berries from trustworthy winegrowers I can get. This is the determining factor”, confidently says Tinatin. Her Chinuri comes from the renown Okami cru, the village of Badiauri supplies her with teinturier Saperavi, and Mtsvane is from the Manavi zone.

At the moment Tinatin has only four qvevris, two of which are used solely for the wine maturation over winter time. The number of pitchers and tanks shall be increased, once a local grant for small enterprises is received. She aspires to it and looks forward to widening the range of the produced wine styles. The main difficulty she experiences so far is common financing, especially considering the cellar expansion and meeting the rigorous regulations of various wine associations. The current world situation in 2020 ceased the Georgian wine export which only adds to the challenges. Yet, Tinatin strives vigorously. “At the moment, I am mastering wine tasting in the Georgian Wine Guild, and it captures me seriously. In my opinion, every winemaker should know how to evaluate wine properly, both positively and in terms of possible problems”, she says.

Her small but high quality crop is sourced from organic vineyards, where no herbicides and artificial fertilizers are applied. There are no additives in the wine as well as no filtration. Every vintage, both Mtsvane and Chinuri are kept underground in qvevri from September to March for six months. 2019 Mtsvane exhibits light amber color with a pleasant aroma of ripe tropical fruit and honey. Chinuri is pale in colour too, but distinctively fuller bodied and richer with unmistakable crushed mint aroma. Harmonious resveratrol-packed Saperavi comes out of stainless steel as a deep violet wine with sweet spices, blueberry and underbush aroma. As the winery produces minuscule amounts of 2000 bottles annually, try to look for the whites, they are particularly rare to find.

Where to find

Locally: Tbilisi’s wine bars and shops (8000 vintages, Wine Library, Grape Wine&Kitchen, Suliko Wine Bar).

Abroad: the US (Historia Imports), moreover Tinatin seeks for feasible partnerships.

At fairs: New Wine Festival (Georgia, Tbilisi), Georgian Wine Festival (Georgia, Tbilisi), Colchian Wine Festival "Dia" (Georgia, Zugdidi).

Contact

Call Tinatin at: +995-568-555-116. Mailto: info@tinatin.wine

Any wine comments?