The qvevri and the qvevri method

UNESCO Intangible Heritage, 2013

The qvevri is a large egg-shaped clay vessel buried in the ground up to its neck. In it the must ferments and ages for months together with the skins, pips and often stems. The earth keeps a steady temperature, while the vessel's shape drives a natural circulation.

For white grapes this long skin contact yields «amber» (Kakhetian) wines — deep in colour, tannic, with notes of dried fruit. It is the very style the West calls amber or orange wine, but in Georgia it has existed for millennia.

In 2013 the «ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method» was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.