Iago Bitarishvili - The Chinuri Master

A profile of one of Georgia's most seminal winemakers, devoted to a single grape variety.

Iago Bitarishvili, founder of the eponymous "Iago's Wine", reveals a fascinating statistic as we chat at his small winery in Georgia's central Kartli region. "In 2009, I decided to put together a tasting of traditional Georgian qvevri wines. I could only find four serious producers who were making these wines - I discounted myself of course, as I was organising the tasting."

Fast forward to 2017, where over 80 winemakers were exhibiting at the popular "New Wine Festival" held annually in Tbilisi - itself an initiative of Iago's. It gives some idea of the meteoric rise and rise in popularity of the qvevri style. Not to mention Iago's modesty.

Many of these qvevri winemakers are very new to the market, and their inexperience often shows in the very inconsistent quality of the wines. The same couldn't be said of wafer-thin Iago, a man who looks like he would disappear if you viewed him sideways on. Except that he never stands still long enough for that to happen.

Chinuri is one of the more …