The New Wine Festival (May 10th 2025) in Mtatsminda park is the biggest single day wine festival in Tbilisi. Over 200 producers were represented. I managed to taste 105 wines from 32 producers.
And the weather was perfect this year! The focus of this festival is “new wine”. Georgia has had quite the focus on wines that are young and ready to drink, for decades. But that focus, nationally, is starting to change a little. With this in mind, a lot of wines tasted during my visit were under-developed. Wines that need a year or more in the bottle at least. Rough tannins etc. In this list I’ve tried to mention a few under-developed wines that had a clear potential to be great in a year or more. But their are many not making the list purely because they were not really ready for a proper tasting assessment.
Of course, there were some young and fresh whites from 2024 vintage that were bursting with fruit and ready to drink! So they have fared batter than many of the heavier reds and ambers.
The majority of wines overall were rated “good” or “acceptable”. And by this, I mean wines that we can objectively say to have merit, and some enjoyable characteristics that make them successful.
I should be clear, that “good” really is pretty decent. These are wines you’d enjoy drinking. Getting a higher rating than “good” means producing a wine that stands out against all other wines tasted, with better balance and relevant characteristics. “Acceptable” being an everyday wine that is fine but you won’t be getting excited about.
Not too many wines were rated “poor” or “faulty”. These are wines that would not be recommended at all (poor wines) or had suffered from wine faults such as volatile acidity, TCA (cork taint), volatile sulfur compounds, etc. at a level to make the wines unpalatable.
Though we try to be as objective as possible in these assessments, some things should be taken into account:
- Blind tasting was not possible, so small biases may exist inadvertently.
- I do often tell producers to “show me the best 2 wines” or something similar, so I am probably getting a better experience than someone who just says “saperavi, please”.
- The tasting environment of a busy outdoor festival is not ideal and some factors affect the tasting:
- Environmental odors – from people walking around with coffee to strong perfume etc. In addition, surrounded by trees, BBQ (mtsvadi) smoke often billowing past (a lot this year, pork everywhere!). It is more challenging than most festivals.
- Full rinsing of glasses between every tasting was impractical, though we tried as best as possible.
We only tasted a fraction of what was on offer – there are well over 200 producers at this festival, its one of the biggest in Georgia each year. It’s a lot of producers for a single day all in one area! A few winemakers were at both festivals.
We did not taste every wine from each vendor we tried.
So, we definitely will have missed some excellent wines. But from what we did taste, we hope you will enjoy discovering some of the below which we gave upper category ratings.
Ratings are based on Balance / Length / Intensity / Complexity and Style (ie. how they fit within the category of the style/intention of the wine). A “very good” rating would be made when 3 to 4 of these criteria have been met successfully. Some consideration is given to young wines that have the potential to arrive at this level in an expected timeframe of aging.
There are many more wine festivals coming soon, and we intend to publish our favorites for those too. Check out reviews from Zero Compromise (2nd/3rd May 2025) which happened the previous week, as well as Wyndham Wine Ambassadors and Saamuri festival last weekend too. With 3 days of wine expo coming up June 2025, there will be lots more wines to discover! As well as Bolnisi wine festival on May 31st.
New Wine Festival, Mtatsminda Park, Tbilisi (Sat 10th May, 2025)
105 wines from 32 wineries tasted.
In order of which i did the tastings, not in order of preference.
Most wines below achieved “very good” or better. But I’ve also Included a few that were on the cusp from good to very good and also deserved a mention. My “personal top picks” are wines I felt were the best, but also wines I personally liked to my preferred taste.
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- Avandi
- Chinuri / Goruli Mtsvane / Khikvi Euro 2024
- Tsolikouri / Chinuri / Khikhvi Euro 2024
- Tavkveri Qvevri 2024
- Tsarapi Qvevri 2022
- Lokakina
- Tsitska / Tsolikouri / Krakhuna Qvevri (10% skins) 2023
- Tsolikouri Pet Nat 2024
- Vino Ponto – Mukhuzani Qvevri + Oak 2021
- Barbales Marani (based in Racha) – Mtsvane (but from Manavi) Euro 2022
- Togonidze – Saperavi Budeshuri 2023
- Lasha’ss – Usakhelouri (dry) Euro 2024 (but grown in Signagi)
- Batsashvili – Saperavi / Rkatsiteli Pet Nat 2024
- Gurami Papas Wine Cellar – Saperavi Rosé 2024
- Marani Tourdo – Rkatsiteli / Mtsvane / Khikhvi / Vardisperi Rkatsiteli Qvevri 2023
- Napheri
- Goruli Mtsvani (5 day skin, Steel tank) 2024 – Personal Top Pick
- Rkatsiteli Qvevri 2023 (from Tsarapi) 2023
- Saperavi Qvevri (+ Oak) 2023
- Bia’s Wines
- Tsitska Qvevri 2024
- Krakhuna Qvevri 2024
- Shumi – Khikhvi Qvevri 2022
- Mosavali – Goruli Mtsvane (4 months lees contact) 2021
- Agidela
- Sauvignon Blanc Euro 2024
- Goruli Mtsvane Euro 2024
- Zangaura
- “Imeretian Bouquet” Tsitska / Tsolikouri / Krakhuna Euro 2023
- Saperavi Semi-Dry 2021
- Kardenakhi 1888
- Tsarapi PDO (Rkatsiteli) Qvevri 2021
- Muscat Euro 2022
- Mtsvane Qvevri 2022 – Personal Top Pick
- Bolko (Signagi)
- Rkatsiteli Euro 2024
- Saperavi Semi-Sweet 2018 – Personal Top Pick
- Lavina
- “Khidistauri” Chinuri / Goruli Mtsvane / Tavkveri 2024
- Aladasturi 2024
- Ortameli – Chkhaveri Euro 2024
- Gvazi – Rkatsiteli 18 months oak 2022 – if you don’t like powerful oak character, then this may be too much. I do like the oak though…
- Avandi
33 wines, from 20 wineries in the upper category! We’ll be back with a longer list at Wine Expo Tbilisi in early June.
Thanks to The Amazing Winemakers!
Congratulations to all the amazing wineries that made it into our upper category ratings. As well as all the other amazing winemakers who continue to make the Georgian wines scene one of the most interesting in the world!
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