The Georgian word for wine cellar is Marani. And almost every house in Georgia has one, especially in the wine region of Kakheti.
The heart of our winery is a natural stone house from the 1960s, which integrates an equally old wine cellar with six Kvevris. Kvevris are clay amphorae buried in the ground, in which people on the territory of present-day Georgia have been producing wine for more than 8,000 years.
In 2022, we have expanded the existing Marani, which we use for the production of red wine, by an area of 80 m2. The new cellar space, which we were able to realize thanks to a successful crowdfunding, we use for the production of our white and amber wines, as well as for storage and maturation of bottled wines.
Our Marani is located in the village of Eniseli, 15 minutes away from our vineyard and about 20 minutes away from Telavi, the capital of Kakheti.
We ferment the pressed grapes – with or without mash – in stainless steel barrels and Kvevris, the traditional Georgian clay amphorae.
In a separate room with constantly low temperatures, our wines age between one and three years in stainless steel barrels.
Once the wine is bottled, we keep our treasure in a partially underground room to ensure constant levels of temperature and humidity.
During the planning and construction of our wine cellar, we made sure that the premises perfectly reflect our philosophy.
In order to use as few resources as possible in the cellar, we chose a shady location surrounded by a house and trees. In addition, we built the cellar partially underground.
Wherever possible, we used local materials: The solid oak doors were made from local wood by a carpenter from the neighboring village of Sabue. The Kvevris and stainless steel barrels are Georgian-made. We do the exterior cladding with slate washed to us from the Intsoba River directly from the mountains of Kakheti. All the works were done by craftsmen from Eniseli.
In order to have the ideal conditions for each type of wine and each production step, our cellar consists of three separate rooms. In the first one, we produce Saperavi (red wine). In the second room, we produce the three white wine varieties Rkatsiteli, Kisi, and Khikhvi. It is also used for the aging of wine. In the third room, we age those wines that need several years and we store the bottles.
Our wine cellar combines the best of tradition and modernity: we produce according to the 8,000-year-old Georgian Kvevri method, but we use modern building insulation and an ingenious climate control system.
In order to provide our visitors with a first-class experience, we have constructed the roof of the cellar in such a way that we can build a beautiful viewing terrace on it with comfortable seating in the shadow.
In our wine cellar we have 18 Kvevris. 12 Kvevris are from 2022 and 6 Kvevris are much older, about 65 years. Our largest Kvevri has a capacity of 1 ton, the smallest can hold 50 liters.
Kvevris are made of clay, but on the outer wall is often applied another layer – lime. The lime layer not only protects the fragile kvevri from the outside, but also gives it additional superpowers thanks to its antiseptic properties.
If we talk about a wine cellar with Kvevris, in our view, the best thing is not to lay a floor at all, but simply pour a layer of gravel. If the floor sinks slightly over time, you can easily fill it up again. Gravel can also absorb moisture.
