Anapea, Vardisperi Rkatsiteli 2022, Kakheti, Georgia

Who -  Khatia Darguashvli, Anapea
Where - Kvareli, Kakheti, Georgia
What - Orange Wine - Vardisperi Rkatsiteli

When - 2022
How - Organic. A naturally pink mutation of Georgian grape variety, Rkatsiteli, fermented and kept on skins for 6 months in qvevri (longer than that, the colour starts to reduce as it is reabsorbed by the grape skins) then matured in a fresh qvevri for two years. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. Vegan

Georgia is where it all began, at least 4000 years ago but the traditional way of making wine, using qvevri and fermenting on skins, was banned when the county was under Soviet rule, the only wine allowed was made from just a very limited number of grape varieties and produced in large, industrial wineries. This almost destroyed the old ways and many indigenous grape varieties were in danger of disappearing and many old vineyards were lost. Happily people are resilient and cunning so the traditions continued, literally underground and have blossomed since independence.

Wine making has come along way but as technology advances we start to realise that what is really good about wine is the basics - grapes, simplicity and a gentle understanding of the earth and what it produces.

Khatia Darguashvili and her husband are sociologists with no previous connection to wine, sharing backgrounds in academia. Anapea began in 2014, when the couple unexpectedly acquired 25 hectares of abandoned land in Kaheti, Georgia's largest wine region. They decided to embark on a new project, away from the city, which allowed them to explore their love of natural wine and their desire to protect Georgia's natural landscape from destructive farming techniques. What they developed was more than just a vineyard - it became a project focused not only reviving the soil, but reviving a traditional way of Khaketian life undisturbed by Soviet invasion. Anapea is a reflection of a 19th century Khaketian village, featuring vineyards with lost, indigenous varietals which they grow to test their potential, a hotel, restaurant, nobleman's house, peasant houses, stills to make chacha, a cellar full of qveri, vegetable and fruit gardens and even a wine museum to educate visitors.