Kakheti accounts for about 72% of Georgia's vineyard area and around three quarters of its wine. The best sites lie in the Alazani and Iori valleys, between the Greater Caucasus and the Gombori ridge, at 400 to 700 metres.
The Georgian method of fermenting and ageing wine in buried clay vessels, qvevri, was inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2013. In Kakheti the whole mass of skins ferments with the juice, which gives the amber whites their tannic structure. Protected names such as Tsinandali, Mukuzani and Kindzmarauli regulate origin and style.
For kosher production qvevri raise a question with no counterpart in most of Europe. Earthenware is traditionally treated as impossible to kasher, much like the barrels discussed in the kosher run model, so a kosher project here would need new qvevri or different vessels, to be agreed with the certifying body in advance.
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