Wine

Zurab Topuridze is Guria’s most influential natural winemaker. He’s also the environmental operations manager of a large oil company, has six children and speaks great English. His vineyards and qvevri cellar are in the heart of Guria, in the hills between the mountains and the sea, near Chokhatauri. Zurab and his wife, Tamar, have 8 hectares of vineyards here: 1 hectare with vines aged 5 to 15 years, and 7 hectares of younger vines. Some grow on steep terraces he has carved from the hillsides heavy in volcanic clay. Zurab is best known for Chkhaveri, a light-bodied Gurian red (sometimes described as pink) from which he produces elegant, organic white and rosy dry wines with lots of character. Zurab’s family is originally from Samegrelo but Tamar is from Guria. They didn’t start off as winemakers.