About us

Inavarde Wines is the organic winery of Fabio Bolognese, producing low-intervention natural wines in Georgia from grapes grown in the estate’s own organic vineyard in Kakheti. The specialty of Inavarde Wines is red and orange wines made in Qvevri.

History

Born and raised in Switzerland, I have always had a passion for travelling. I enjoyed many places around the world, but when I visited Georgia for the first time in 2011, I instantly fell in love with the country. Many more journeys followed, during which I got to know its cities, landscapes, people, culture, and mentality more and more deeply.

At the end of 2019, after 10 years, I decided to leave my main job as CEO of the booking platform Hotelcard and dedicate myself entirely to my side business, a travel agency specialising in the South Caucasus. For this reason, I travelled to Georgia in December with the intention of staying for a whole year. However, it took less than two months before Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill and the travel industry came to a halt.

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Despite this, I did not want to cut short my year in Georgia. So I began thinking about new possibilities. Since I had loved working in the garden as a child, but had not been able to pursue this passion later in life, I set out to find a piece of land in Kakheti, my favourite region in Georgia.

In the middle of the Alazani Valley, not far from the village of Sanavardo, I found a place that immediately felt right to me. Part of the land was empty, while another part was covered with vines. The seller told me that a man named Vano had been taking care of the vines and suggested I speak with him. Perhaps we could continue working together. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened.

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In the first year, I originally planned to simply sell the grapes. But as summer slowly came to an end, the idea emerged to turn at least part of them into wine. I had absolutely no experience, but with Vano’s help, we brought the grapes into his garden, pressed them by hand, poured the mash into a stainless steel tank, and waited until spring.

To my surprise, the result in the glass was actually quite drinkable. The excitement and passion I felt during the winemaking process completely caught me off guard. And so began a passionate journey filled with learning, experimentation, and new experiences — a journey whose end is thankfully still nowhere in sight.

Vineyard & Terroir

We are convinced that great wine can only be made from the finest grapes. And healthy grapes grow only in natural, biodiverse vineyards. Our organic vineyard is located in the heart of eastern Georgia’s wine region, Kakheti – between the foothills of the Greater Caucasus and the Alazani River, far from any civilization and surrounded by meadows, trees, and other vineyards.

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Our Philosophy:

- No drip irrigation: So that the roots grow deep and absorb valuable minerals.

- No ploughing: To allow the underground ecosystem and its important organisms to develop naturally.

- Terroir in the wine: The more natural the soil, the more the different facets of the terroir can express themselves in the wine – making it unique and exciting every year.

- Letting nature do the work: We work carefully and respectfully because we aim for high biodiversity. In a healthy vineyard, hundreds of species of beneficial insects live and thrive.

- No chemicals: For plant protection we use pheromone traps; copper-based organic plant protection products are only used when necessary.

- No herbicides: Because no one wants these toxins in their wine. Instead, we mow the grass regularly.

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Grape Varieties:

- Kisi

- Khikhvi

- Rkatsiteli

- Saperavi

Winemaking & Aging

Our wine cellar, in Georgian called Marani, is located in the village Eniseli, Kakheti region. We produce our wines according to a thousands of years old tradition in underground clay amphorae called "Qvevri".

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Our Philosophy:

- Immediate processing: We harvest the grapes in small quantities so they can be processed immediately.

- Careful transport: We transport the grapes in small 12 kg wooden crates to prevent them from being crushed.

- No cultured yeasts: We do not want our wines to taste exactly the same every year.

- Spontaneous fermentation: We use naturally occurring yeast cultures for fermentation, which expresses the terroir and the character of each vintage in the wine.

- Strict hygiene: The absolute foundation for a winemaker, who is in many ways also a cleaner.

- Gentle cleaning: We clean our clay amphorae and stainless steel tanks exclusively with water; before filling, we fumigate them with sulfur.

- Time-based filtration: We “filter” our wines by allowing sediments to settle and then racking the wine (4 to 6 times per year).

- Patience in ageing: We allow our wines 2 to 3 years of maturation before we release them for sale

- Vegan wines: Our wines contain only wine and no animal products. Therefore, they are vegan.

- No additives: Our wines contain nothing but fermented grape juice.

- No added sulfites: Every wine naturally contains a certain amount of sulfites. We do not add any additional sulfites.

At The Winery

For us, there is nothing better than welcoming guests. That is why we would be delighted to welcome you to our natural winery in Kakheti, where winemaker Fabio will greet you personally. He will show you the wine cellar and explain how we produce our natural wines. On our terrace, you will taste our organic wines while Nina treats you to culinary delights.

More information and booking on our website