Kvevri: craft from Georgia

A kvevri is a large clay vessel, also spelled qvevri, used in Georgia to ferment, store and age wine. Winemakers bury it in the ground, fill it with grapes and their juice, then leave the wine inside for months; in 2013 UNESCO listed the method as intangible cultural heritage.

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A kvevri is a large clay jar, egg-shaped and without handles, that Georgian winemakers sink into the ground or set into a cellar floor. Traditionally it is buried entirely, neck and all. Grapes are pressed and the juice, skins, stalks and pips go in together to ferment. The jar and the way it is used are recognised as heritage in Georgia.

What it is

A kvevri is a big earthenware container for wine. Its shape is compared to an amphora, the ancient Mediterranean jar, but it has no handles and stands more like an egg. Sizes differ a lot: the smallest hold about 20 litres and the largest around 10,000 litres, though a typical one holds about 800. Some sit in the floors of large wine cellars; others are buried. In western Georgia people also call it ch'uri. The clay is chosen with care, because the kind of clay affects how much mineral the finished wine takes up. Vessels like this are made in many countries. Georgia is the place where they are used for wine.

Origins and history

Digs in Kvemo Kartli, in southern Georgia, turned up grape pips and kvevris from the sixth millennium B.C.; the finds come from Dangreuli Gora, Gadachrili Gora and the village of Imiri. Certain villages are known for making the jars, among them Shrosha and Makatubani in Imereti, Vardisubani in Kakheti and Atsana in Guria. There, artisan families have handed the craft down through the generations. In the past the jars also held brandy, grain, butter, cheese and other foods that spoil, but wine came first. Georgia entered the method on its national intangible heritage register in 2011, and UNESCO added it to a world list in 2013.

How wine is made

The grapes are pressed, then everything goes into the jar together: juice, skins, stalks and pips. The kvevri is sealed and the liquid ferments for at least five or six months. After that the wine is drawn off and bottled. What is left behind, the mash of skins, pips and stalks, is chacha. It gets distilled into a brandy that carries the same name. The empty jar is washed, treated with lime and coated again with beeswax so that it can be filled once more.

Styles of wine

Georgian wines made this way are not all alike. What they share is that the wine ferments in a jar sunk fully in the ground. The Kakhetian method is the most archaic and the boldest: white grapes stay in the jar with their skins, pips and stems for months, giving an amber or orange colour. The Imeretian method is gentler. It uses only about a tenth of the mash and no stems, so the wine has less tannin and tastes closer to what European drinkers expect. In Kartli, in central Georgia, winemakers add about a third of the mash, stems included. That sits between the two.

Today and change

Once Russia's market for Georgian wine shrank to almost nothing, Georgian growers turned back to the older method, and interest in it has spread. Commercial wineries send kvevri wine abroad, and some makers in Europe and America now ferment their own wine in these jars. In Georgia the wine goes into the jar; the same kind of large ceramic container is used for wine in Spain, where it is called vino de tinaja or vino de pitarra, and in Portugal, where the wine is vinho de talha.

How Kvevri is kept

The work belongs to winemaking families and to the artisans who make the jars, and it moves with the grapes. Grapes are pressed and the juice, skins, stalks and pips are poured into a kvevri buried in the ground. The vessel is sealed and left for at least five or six months while the juice turns into wine. Then the wine is decanted and bottled. The chacha, the mash left at the bottom, is distilled into brandy. The jar is cleaned, treated with lime, coated in beeswax and made ready for the next harvest.

When and where

Kvevri wine belongs to Georgia, above all to Kakheti, Imereti, Guria and Kvemo Kartli, the regions named in the old records and in the archaeology. The jars are still made in certain villages there. Outside Georgia, wine is fermented in large clay vessels in Spain and Portugal, and some winemakers in Europe and America have taken up the Georgian-style jar.

What Kvevri means

For the wine-makers who keep it, the jar is not just a container. They say wine made in a kvevri is stable on its own, high in tannins, and needs no chemical preservatives to keep well or taste good. The tannins hold back protein and keep the wine clear. Families guard the craft of building the jars, and Georgians count both the vessel and the method as part of their heritage, listed at home in 2011 and by UNESCO in 2013.

Kvevri: Qvevris in Chateau Zegaani Winery. Photo: Levan Gokadze, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Questions people ask about Kvevri

What is a kvevri?

A kvevri is a large earthenware jar used to ferment, store and age wine. It is shaped like an egg without handles, and it is either buried in the ground or built into the floor of a wine cellar. In western Georgia it is also called ch'uri.

Where is wine made this way?

In Georgia, mainly in Kakheti, Imereti, Guria and Kvemo Kartli. The big clay vessels are also used for wine in Spain, as vino de tinaja or vino de pitarra, and in Portugal, as vinho de talha. Some winemakers in Europe and America have adopted the Georgian jar too.

How long does the wine stay in the jar?

At least five or six months. The juice, skins, stalks and pips go in together, the jar is sealed, and the wine is only drawn off and bottled after it has fermented. Then the jar is washed, treated with lime and coated with beeswax for reuse.

What is amber wine?

It is the white wine of Kakheti, in eastern Georgia. Instead of being pressed off the skins straight away, the grapes stay in the buried jar with their skins, pips and stems for several months, which gives the wine an orange or amber colour and more tannin.

Is the method recognised as heritage?

Yes. Georgia listed the vessel and the wine-making tradition on its national intangible cultural heritage register in 2011. Two years later UNESCO put qvevri wine on its world list of intangible cultural heritage.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Kvevri", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.

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