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Wine region · Georgia

Kartli

Central Georgia around Tbilisi, flatter and drier than Kakheti, and the base of most Georgian sparkling wine.

continentalmoderate
What to expect in the glass

Fresh, light whites and medium-bodied Saperavi reds. Qvevri-made amber wines where a producer chooses that method.

About Kartli

Kartli occupies the central Georgian plain around Tbilisi, and is drier and more open than Kakheti to the east.

Chinuri and Goruli Mtsvane are the local whites, and much of the region’s fruit goes into sparkling wine.

Qvevri fermentation is practised here as elsewhere in Georgia, but it is worth being precise: qvevri is a traditional method used for a minority of Georgian production, not a synonym for Georgian wine. Most Georgian wine is made in stainless steel.

Kartli is a wine region, not an appellation

No authority delimits this name or attaches rules to it. A country’s major wine division, usually containing appellations or sub-regions beneath it. That does not make it less real or less useful — it means nothing legal follows from it, and you will not generally find it on a label as a controlled designation.

Grapes

Wines from here

orange

Qvevri amber wine

White grapes fermented on skins and stems in buried clay vessels — the Georgian tradition from which all modern orange wine descends.

red

Saperavi

Georgia’s ink-dark red from a rare red-fleshed grape — dense, high in acid, and made both in modern tanks and in qvevri.

What to eat, and how to serve it

Derived from this region’s signature styles. Each is listed separately, because a region does not have one serving temperature.

Saperavi

Serve at 16–18°C (cool room temperature).

Try with roast chicken, beef stew or fillet steak.

Qvevri amber wine

Serve at 12–16°C (cellar cool).

Try with roast chicken, fillet steak or pork.

Where to go next

Places worth trying if you like this one — neighbours, rivals, and the obvious step across.

  • Kakheti — Georgia’s principal wine region, and the heartland of qvevri winemaking.
  • Imereti — Western Georgia, with a qvevri tradition distinct from Kakheti’s — less skin contact, lighter wines.
Location

Approximate centroid: 41.80°, 44.30°. WineHQ stores coordinates only where it has them, and does not estimate boundaries it has not sourced.

Sources

Sources consulted