Why it matters
The producer
Vazisubani Estate sits in the Alazani Valley, in Kakheti, the wide basin in eastern Georgia where the Caucasus foothills flatten into river plain and the country's oldest wine culture has its densest roots. The estate farms 35 hectares of indigenous Georgian varieties and runs two production streams from the same ground: a qvevri cellar where wines ferment on skins in buried terracotta for months, and stainless-steel tanks producing European-style whites.
The winemaker is Lado Uzunashvili. He is the 11th generation of his family to make wine at Vazisubani, which gives that number a weight that goes beyond biography. Eleven generations is not a marketing interval. It is a chain of planting and harvest decisions that stretches back through Georgian history, through Soviet collectivisation, through the post-independence years, all arriving in the hands of one person holding an enology degree from Moscow All-Union Food Industry University and a period of practical work at Australia's Wine Research Institute.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Kakheti is Georgia's principal wine region, running east from the capital Tbilisi toward the Alazani River, with the Greater Caucasus range to the north and the Lesser Caucasus framing the south. The Alazani Valley, where Vazisubani's vineyards lie, is broad, flat, and warm in summer, with a continental climate that delivers long, dry autumns. Those autumns matter: they allow the indigenous varieties, particularly Saperavi and the white Rkatsiteli and Kisi, to ripen slowly and accumulate both sugar and acidity rather than burning through one at the expense of the other.
For amber wines made in qvevri, that acidity supports the wine. Skin contact over months adds tannin, colour, and textural weight. Without a firm acid line underneath, the wine would feel heavy and oxidative. The Alazani Valley's long growing season keeps that line in place.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
All 35 hectares are planted to indigenous Georgian varieties. Kisi, Rkatsiteli, and Saperavi are the confirmed anchors, with two further indigenous varieties making up the balance. Kisi is a white grape with naturally high acidity and a tendency toward aromatic complexity when given extended skin contact. Rkatsiteli, the most widely planted white in Georgia, contributes firmness and a dry, mineral backbone. Saperavi is the red, a thick-skinned grape that produces wines of deep colour, firm tannin, and high acidity, which is why it ages so well in qvevri.
The stainless-steel stream produces conventional European-style whites from the same varieties, without skin contact or extended vessel ageing. These wines are fresher, lighter, and quicker to market. The two streams coexist, drawing from the same vineyard, taking different paths to the bottle.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range divides between qvevri-method bottles and European-style stainless-steel whites, with the qvevri tier carrying the estate's main statement.
The Kisi Qvevri is an amber wine made from the Kisi grape with approximately 9 months of skin contact in buried terracotta. It comes out with dried fruit, honeycomb, and baking spice on the nose, and a textured, tannin-framed body that is not sweet despite the honeyed aromas. Kisi's natural acidity keeps the wine from feeling heavy.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the 2020 Vazisubani Estate 3 Qvevri. It is a blended amber wine from three indigenous white varieties fermented in buried terracotta for 9 months on their skins. The colour is pale amber. The nose is green tea, dried apricot, honey, and a thin line of citrus. In the mouth the acidity is mouth-watering, the body is medium, and the layered flavour moves through apricot, apple, lemon, and spice before finishing clean and long. It does not taste like any European white or red, because it is neither. It is a Georgian amber wine made by a method older than most wine regions.