The espetacular Marani Casreli, winery of Georgia and the very gentil owner Misha Dolidze

When I decided to visit Georgia to know its wines I started by researching producers on Facebook and the first one I met was Misha Dolidze, who helped me a lot in planning my visits.

Most Georgia producers advertise their products on Facebook and have no websites, which makes communication a little difficult, because in my case the contacts were made by different means of communication!

My intention was to know from the wines made by families for their own consumption, which is very common there, to a great producer.

As I expected, it was much more interesting to visit the minors, because I was received by the producers. In the case of the great producer, an executive was the one who accompanied me and, despite being kind, could not answer some of my questions.

Misha Dolidze provided me with a list of suggestions and I got in touch with some and others didn't even respond. I was also in contact with a large producer who, while explaining that she wanted to promote Georgian wines, her representative was more interested in getting me to participate in tour and tasting packages.

Misha was able to meet us at her winery, Marani Casreli, in the evening, along with her partner Vaja, as he spent the day delivering wine to an importer. Even tired, his enthusiasm and humor were great!

Misha was proud that despite having started her activities in 2014, he already accumulated a number of awards for his wines.

The reception was very kind, with a table prepared with its supra (banquet), with cheeses from various regions of Georgia, grilled peppers and tomatoes, a delicious eggplant wrapped in a paste of nuts and spices (badridjane), roast beef and nuts. They also served their typical sweet (Churchkhela), made with nuts and topped with mix of grape juice and wheat flour. It has the appearance of a sausage.

 We also talked about the Russian invasions of Georgia and the cases of killing demonstrators, which even left the Tblisi River red with blood.

Misha showed me his clean Kvevris, to receive the new harvest that was about to begin. He explained to me that each type of grape is in contact with the skin for a while and then goes to the stainless-steel tanks before bottling.

They also produce Chacha, which is a kind of 55% alcohol grappa, tasty, but an alcohol bomb!

His wine production is about 5,500 bottles, and this year should pass to 10,000 bottles.

Then we began the tasting of the 2018 vintage wines, each accompanied by a toasting: friendship, freedom, guests, Georgia, Brazil and all the best:

 Rkatsiteteli - Mtsvane, Amber Dry, 2018, with 14% alcohol. The two grapes (70% Rkatsiteteli, 30% Mtsvane) are crushed together and go to Kvevri, where they keep it for 4 months with the skin. The Rkatsiteteli strain makes a deeply fruity wine with striking tannins, with moderate acidity and aromas of caramel, honey and dried orange. The Mtsvani grape is lighter, and has higher acidity and more green aromas. It softens this wine.

 Khikhvi 2018, with 14% alcohol. The grape is crushed in kvevri and is in contact with the skin for 6 months. The wine has aromas of wild and mineral fruit and dried fruit and apricot flavors with a striking tannin.

Mtsvane - Kisi, from grape of the same name. The Mtsvane grape (50%) has a grapefruit tone, which soon appears during fermentation. The Kisi grape brings dry fruit and spice aromas to the wine, as well as flavors of: apricot, orange lime and walnuts. It is an intense, dry wine with a strong personality. Very aromatic with striking tannins.s.

Chitstvala (bird's eye), Tetri Chitstvala (45%) Kisi (30%) and Rikatsite (25%) grape. It is a wine called dry amber. It is very dry, with a marked presence of tannins, citrus and herbs, as well as incense. It is a balanced wine that must still evolve a lot.

We also tasted your delicious Chacha to finish that feast.

This producer has a different way of indicating how many grapes are used in wine. It places a Kvevri-shaped cutout on the labels for each strain used.

On the way out we also got a bottle of each of these 4 wines and another from Chacha, which I brought to Brazil, to taste with expert wine groups.

This was certainly an exceptional visit, where I met some more of the Georgian wines and its wonderful people.

I take the opportunity to tell you a little about the history of the winery:


Marani Casreli was founded in December 2014, by 5 colleagues.The winery makes natural wine exclusively from grapes from their organic vineyards, which were planted in April 2015, on specifically selected terroirs.
After the first harvest in 2016, 3 types of wines were produced: - Kisi - single varietal wine from the grape Kisi. Bronze of Qvevri Wine International Competition. 900 bottles. - Mtsvivani - single varietal wine from Kakhuri Mtsvivani. Silver of Qvevri Wine International Competition. 450 bottles. - Chitistvala – blend from Tetri Chitstvala, Kisi and Rkatsiteli (33.33% each). Gold of Qvevri Wine International Competition, Decanter tasting score 90. 900 bottles.
After the second harvest in 2017, produced 6 types of wines were produced: Kisi, varietal wine from the grape Kisi. 200 bottles. - Mtsvivani - single varietal wine from Kakhuri Mtsvivani. 700 bottles. - Chitistvala - blend from Tetri Chitstvala, Kisi and Rkatsiteli (33.33% each). 450 bottles. - Khikhvi-Kisi - blend from Khikhvi and Kisi (50% each). 200 bottles. - Mtsvane-Kisi - blend from Kakhuri Mtsvane and Kisi (50% each). 250 bottles. - Erekle’s Wine - blend from Rkatsiteli, Kisi, Khikhvi and Kakhuri Mtsvane (35, 35, 15 and 15%, correspondingly). 700 bottles.
Marani Casreli makes amber wine using only Georgian traditional technology – long skin maceration in Qvevri. The technology is based on natural fermentation and fining, with no or very few sulfites.