Our Story
Our winery and most of our vineyards are in Kvareli. This is a town located in the Alazani Valley, near the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. The town is famous for its Kindzmarauli appellation.
Founder: Zurab Mzekalashvili
The story of our winery roots back to over half a century ago when our grandfather Zurab Mzekalashvili started growing Rkatsiteli grapes and producing Qvevri wines in the wine cellar at his home in Kvareli. His passion and love for viticulture and winemaking spread to the entire family and inspired us to continue our family tradition of making unique wines with highest quality, using some specific technologies that our grandfather shared with us.
Methods
Zura is pouring some Saperavi
SunWine is building a new Qvevri cellar
Our wines are produced using two separate methods:
- European, using stainless steel tanks and equipment; adjusting temperature to control the fermentation process, and
- Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method.
Qvevri is a traditional Georgian clay vessel used for making, aging and storing wine. Grapes are crushed and then fermented, skin-on, for several months in qvevri. Prolonged contact with the skins produces wines that are rich in tannins, which produce depth and dryness, plus great stability and structure. Qvevri are buried underground to maintain consistent temperature and provide a well-controlled environment for fermentation.
As proof of its cultural significance, and in accordance with principles of Convention on Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, the status of National Monument of Intangible Cultural Heritage has been assigned to the “Ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri wine-making method.”
Our Winery Staff
Our winery staff has always been led by a passion for not losing the traditional touch while discovering and adding the art of newness. We all share the love for making unique tastes that can excite us all. We aim at evolving for a better future by merging our blend of rich past experiences and connection to this very piece of land and nature in the country of Georgia.
Ilia Mzekalashvili
Our Chief Winemaker
Ilia Mzekalashvili is the head of our winery. He has more than 30 years’ experience in winemaking and viticulture. Ilia makes sure the quality of wine produced is rich and up to the mark. He has a reputation for winning the hearts of wine lovers from all over the world.
Zurab Mzekalashvili
Our Operations Manager
Zurab Mzekalashvili joined the family winery fulltime in 2014. Since then, he has made significant contributions to the growth and development of the brand both locally and internationally.
Chabuk Mzekalashvili
Our Marketing Manager
Chabuk Mzekalashvili is the youngest member of the team. His energy and creativity has been a key factor in the growth and development of the winery in the recent years. Chabuk looks forward to gaining more responsibilities and continuing to increase his contribution to the winery.
Zurab Cherashvili & Nina Jikia
Our US Importers
Zurab Cherashvili & Nina Jikia handle the US Imports. Their involvement in the family winery started back in 2019 when they founded a wine import company, Sada Wine Imports. Zurab and Nina have a vision to introduce the wine lovers with some of the world’s most unique and distinctive wines produced by their family in Georgia.
Mission
Our mission is to explore the full potential of winemaking in the birthplace of wine by producing the highest quality wines from our vineyards, using both the European and the ancient Georgian traditional Qvevri methods and sharing them with the wine lovers around the world.
