Top Wines: 2025 Zero Compromise Tbilisi (Natural Wine Association) Review, May 2nd & 3rd

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Over 2 days of the Zero Compromise Tbilisi wine festival (May 2nd+3rd 2025), I managed to taste 227 wines from 58 producers.

Another very fun event with Zero Compromise. The wine, food and atmosphere make this one of the must-go wine festivals of the year, and the post-industrial ruin style venue adds to the appeal.

As for the wines, the majority were rated “good” or “acceptable”. And by this, I mean wines that we can objectively say to have merit, and enjoyable characteristics that make them successful.

I should be clear, that “good” really is good enough, enjoyable wines. “Acceptable” is ok everyday table wine, not offensive, but not noteworthy. I’m not going to list these ones here. Below you will find my list of the top wines.

Only a minority of wines were rated “poor” or “faulty”. These are wines that would not be worth drinking (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.

Some with minor faults may be actually of interest to some natural wine drinkers, as small amounts do not necessarily destroy the wine experience, and there seems to be a preference in some palates for “a bit funky”, residual yeast tastes and other things that are very much a subjective preference. Up to you!

Though I 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.
• The tasting environment of a busy indoor festival is not ideal and some factors affect the tasting:
  • Environmental odors – from people walking around with coffee to strong perfume etc.
  • Inconsistent lighting for assessing appearance and color.
  • Full rinsing of glasses between every tasting was impractical, though I tried as best as possible.
• 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”.
• Even more Pet-Nats this year! Apparently quite a few made my list, either something is going right in Georgia on this front, or I’ve developed a Pet-Nat bias after years of mostly qvevri wines!

We tasted a little over half of all vendors on offer.

We did not taste every wine from each vendor.

So, we may 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 will publish our favorites for those too.

My reviews for Wine Ambassadors (Wyndham Grand 1st May) & Saamuri Natural Wine Festival (May 4th) 2025 are posted here.

Zero Compromise (Natural Wine Association) May 2nd / 3rd 2025

227 tastings (226 wines and 1 cider), from 58 wineries.

In order of which i did the tastings, not in order of preference. 

All wines below achieved “very good” or on the cusp of “good” to “very good”. Essentially, wines that are noteworthy. But not all will be the preference of every palate!

1. 1. TD Winery – Goruli Mtsvane Pet-Nat 2024 (More wines I did not taste at the event would make the list)
   2. Kolagis
      1. Rkatsiteli Pet-Nat 2024
      2. “Rkaperavi” Rkatsiteli / Saperavi Qvevri 2024
   3. Doctor’s Bio Cellar
      1. Khikhvi (50%) / Rkatsiteli (50%) Qvevri 2022
      2. Rkatsiteli Qvevri 2021
      3. Saperavi Steel Tank 2022
      4. Saperavi Steel Tank 2023
   4. Nagutnebi
      1. Tsolikouri Pet-Nat 2024
      2. Tsitska / Tsolikouri Pet-Nat 2024
      3. Aladasturi Pet-Nat 2024 – Personal Top Pick
      4. Aladasturi Pet-Nat 2023 (Was also on last year’s list)
   5. Dano – Rkatsiteli Steel Tank 2024
   6. Tilisma
      1. Saperavi Rosé Semi-Carbonic Pet-Nat 2024
      2. Rkatsiteli Qvevri 2024
   7. Makharabeli
      1. Rkatsiteli / Mtsvane Qvevri 2023
      2. Saperavi Qvevri 2020
   8. Simonica – Ojaleshi Pet-Nat 2024
   9. Demi’s Wine – Chinuri Pet-Nat 2024
   10. Manavi Wines
       1. Mtsvane Euro 2023
       2. Rkatsiteli Euro (20% was oaked) 2022
   11. Sopromadze – Chkhaveri Qvevri 2022 (was also on the list last year)
   12. Archil / Nino Guniava
       1. Archil: Otskhanuri Sapere / Aladasturi Qvevri 2024
       2. Nino: Mgalobishvili Qvevri 2024
   13. Escoda Sanahvja (Catalunya)
       1. Merlot / Garnacha / Carinian 2022
       2. Garnacha / Sumoll / Carinan 2023
       3. Cabernet Franc / Merlot (~20%) 2023 – Personal Top Pick
   14. Tiques (Catalunya)
       1. Xarello Pet-Nat 2021
       2. 5 Grapes Blend (inc. Macabeo / Xarello) 2023
   15. Christian Tschida (Austria)
       1. Syrah 2023 – Personal Top Pick
       2. Syrah Rosé 2023
       3. 3 types of Muscat 2023
       4. Grüner Veltliner / Furmint 2023
       5. Blaufränkisch 2023
   16. Maria & Sepp Muster (Austria)
       1. Riesling / Sauvignon Blanc / Chardonnay / Muscat 2021
       2. Sauvignion Blanc 2020
       3. Zwiegelt 2020
   17. Fonterenza
       1. Sangiovese 2023
       2. “Montelcino” Red Blend 2021 – Personal Top Pick
   18. Tedzami
       1. Goruli Mtsvane Pet-Nat 2024
       2. “Triada” Goruli Mtsvane / Chinuri / Chaqpa Qvevri 2023
   19. Gotsa
       1. Chinuri Qvevri 2022
       2. Chkhaveri Qvevri 2022
   20. Kabaj (Slovenia)
       1. Pinot Gris 2020
       2. Rebula 2020
       3. “Conde” 5 grapes blend 2009 – Personal Top Pick (was also a top pick last year, crazy good wine returned 1 year older!)
       4. Merlot / Cabernet Franc (10%) 2012 – Personal Top Pick
   21. Martvilis Marani – “Marha” Tsolikouri juice + Aladasturi skins 2023
   22. Ghvardzelashvilis
       1. Rkatsiteli / Mtsvane / Buera Qvevri 2024
       2. Zhigia Qvevri 2024
       3. ? Saperavi Qveveri 2024 ? (This is not ready to drink yet, but made the list for potential to drink 1+ years from now)
   23. Nikalas Marani
       1. Mtsvane Euro 2024
       2. Khikhvi Qvevri 2024
       3. Budeshuri Saperavi Qveveri 2024
   24. Nadelebi
       1. Saperavi Rosé Pet-Nat 2024 (Drink now, don’t age it)
       2. Saperavi Semi Carbonic 2024
       3. Saperavi Qvevri 2019
   25. Anapea – “Margo” Saperavi juice / Mtsvane skins 2022
   26. Jusos
       1. Rkatsiteli / Kisi / Mtsvane / Buera Qvevri 2022
       2. Saperavi (Shilda) Qvevri 2023
   27. Cueva (Valencia, Spain)
       1. Tardana Euro 2022
       2. Muscat / Macabeo 2022
   28. Lapati – Rkatsiteli Euro 2023

62 wines, from 28 wineries that made it into the higher category!

Thanks to The Amazing Winemakers!

Thanks again 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 natural wines scene one of the most exciting and diverse in the world!

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