Ana Mirianashvili of Chelti Winery was recently interviewed by the wine and spirits platform Unicorn on the age-worthiness of Georgian wines. The article’s writer Carissa Chesanek details the history of Georgian wines as highly age-worthy due to ancient winemaking traditions, particularly the use of qvevri. These methods produce structured red and amber wines with strong longevity.

Chelti is leading the way with Georgian aged wines. Their reserves include one of the largest stocks of saperavi in Georgia. While many Georgian wines are celebrated for their freshness and authenticity, Chelti stands apart for producing wines built to evolve gracefully over time. As Mirianashvili notes in the interview for the article, the qvevri’s clay enables “gentle micro-oxygenation” and long skin contact, which help integrate tannins and preserve stability over time. Despite low sulfur use, proper cleaning and healthy grapes keep these wines ageable. 

Overall, Georgia’s long-standing wine culture and practices show that these wines were made to age gracefully. Georgian wine has long been associated with ageability thanks to its traditional qvevri practices and structured grape varieties like saperavi. But not all producers capitalize on this potential. Chelti marries this historical capability with intentional cellar strategy. By investing in deep, temperature-stable cellar space and embracing a thoughtful balance of tradition and modern technique, the winery creates wines that are as compelling today as they are promising for the future.

In a wine culture where longevity is part of the lore but not always the practice, Chelti Winery stands as a notable exception. You can read the entire article from the Unicorn Review here: