Anapea Village, Saperavi "Margo" Kvareli, Georgia 2020

This wine begins with the early harvest of Mtsvane (a white grape). Grapes are crushed and start the fermentation on the skins. As the season continues, fully ripe Saperavi (a red grape) is harvested. At this point, the juice of Mtsvane is removed from the qvevri (clay pot), leaving the must. Then the Saperavi juice is directly pressed into the qvevri. The fermentation on the skins lasts for 6-7 days after which the juice is removed from the skins and continues fermenting. The wine is then transferred to the aging qvevri where it rests for 6 months. This ingenious method results in a red wine with the juiciness of a white.

Khatia and Gocha started Anapea Village in 2013. A wife and husband team, they planted vineyards and built a winery in the east of Georgia to rehabilitate the traditions of Georgian grape growing and winemaking.  

From the start, they've farmed organically. Only indigenous varieties are planted in their vineyards. Harvest typically occurs in early September and is completed by hand. Once the grapes reach the winery, fermentation occurs on skins for red and white grapes in qvevri. The winery has 2 sets of qvevri, one for fermentation and one for aging. Both are buried below ground but at different levels.

For fermentation, qvevri buried just below the earth's surface are used. With a slightly warmer ambient temperature, the environment is perfect for fermentation and extraction. Following six months of maceration, the wines are racked off the skins and gross lees to another set of qvevri, buried 6 meters below ground. With a cooler temperature, this zone is perfect for aging and stabilizing the wines. The wines are bottled with minimal to no sulfur and are neither fined nor filtered.