Aleko Tskitishvili,s Blog

“Chortauli Vineyards”

The Natural Wine Association is the main platform for Georgian natural winemaking both in Georgia and abroad. The successful popularization and recognition of Georgian natural wines is largely due to the Association.

Of course, the Association is not just a name and behind it stand the founders - pioneers of organic viticulture and natural winemaking in Georgia, authorities and no less famous winegrowers and winemakers of member wineries, among whom there are both veterans and novice enthusiasts.

The Association has traditional supporters and partners who have been promoting the development of Georgian natural winemaking for years, supporting and cheering on the Association.

First of all, the National Wine Agency should be mentioned, which financially supports the Association’s initiatives and events, including the natural wine festivals – ZERO COMPROMISE and “Amerimeri”, as well as the participation of the Association’s member wineries in international exhibitions. I should also mention the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), which has made a great contribution to the institutional development of the Association, including the introduction of the Association’s standard and internal inspection mechanism.

I cannot list all the Association’s partners and supporters now, because the purpose of this blog post is not to inform the public about them. The main thing to say is that the Association already has a huge responsibility not only to ordinary consumers of natural wine, but first of all, to its partners, supporters and friends, who have contributed to the development of both the Association and its member wineries, and to the popularization of natural wines.

What does this responsibility mean?

First of all – to justify hopes and trust!

Maintaining trust and authority is not an easy task, because the Association currently has exactly 119 member wineries. Therefore, not only the Association’s administration but also all its member wineries are responsible for this trust and reputation.

That is why the Association has implemented an effective internal inspection mechanism since 2018, which is being improved year by year and ensures compliance with the Association’s standards. Inspections are conducted for those wineries that are interested in having the Association’s mark awarded to their wines from the current year’s harvest in the future. Every year, wine samples are sent to qualified laboratories in European countries for testing so that the Association can be sure that members comply with the standard requirements. Annual laboratory testing of wines is carried out on a random basis and can affect any member of the Association.

By implementing a sound internal inspection mechanism and laboratory testing rules, the Association is trying to completely eliminate or minimize cases of violation of the Association’s rules. If someone still violates these rules in the end, nothing will be hidden that will not be made public. In addition to the above measures, the Association carefully studies information received from various sources about the activities of members, and if it has confirmed information about such a violation that leads to the suspension of membership, an appropriate decision will be made in a timely manner.

The Association has exactly the same requirements for those wineries that apply to it annually with a request to join. An agreement is concluded with the candidates of the Association, with a number of conditions, after signing which the candidate is fully informed about the requirements of the Association. After that, the inspection process of candidates begins, which has been two years since 2024 and includes both visits by the Association's inspectors to the candidate's vineyards and wineries, as well as a study of the documentation submitted with the application. The candidate becomes a member of the Association in the autumn of the second year after submitting the application if it is determined during the two-year inspection process that they meet the conditions specified in the agreement.

To join the Association, it is necessary for the candidate to have a productive organic vineyard and a natural wine cellar. Winemakers without a vineyard and winegrowers without a cellar are not accepted into the Association. There are cases when people who have neither a vineyard nor a cellar apply to the Association but make wine from purchased grapes and rent a cellar. The Association refuses to accept them as members. Of course, those wineries that were found to have critical non-conformities during the inspection process, such as the use of prohibited substances in the vineyard (herbicides, chemical fertilizers, and systemic pesticides) or in the wine (industrial additives and flavorings), which contradicts the essence of natural viticulture and winemaking, are also refused membership.

For years, I have been leading the inspection process for both candidates and members of the Association, which is a huge responsibility for me, and I am aware of this. However, the work is made easier by a team of qualified inspectors and the respect and willingness to cooperate shown by both members and candidates. I have also seen upset and angry candidates when it was already clear during the inspection visit that they did not meet the Association’s standards, and when we explained this to them, they became angry and expressed dissatisfaction, despite the fact that they themselves were violating the terms of the agreement.

That is why I appeal to you, dear candidates, who are planning to submit an application to the Association this year, to be careful—read the agreement signed with the Association, its annexes, and terms carefully!

The Association allows you to introduce your wines to the world, but it cannot allow you to bypass the requirements of the Association and enter this unity of natural wine producers without having any idea what an organic vineyard and natural wine are, or even without understanding all this in your own way, differently.

“What do you want to teach me?! I have been making organic wine for so many years!” - one angrily told me. There are already a number of inconsistencies in this sentence, about which candidates sometimes have different ideas when they apply to the Association. Organic wine, by its very nature, is a completely different product, and natural wine is completely different. For example, the use of selective yeasts is allowed in organic wine, which the Natural Wine Association’s standard prohibits. The Association has members who also have the organic mark, but since they are members of the Association, they first adhere to the Association’s stricter standard, and then to the relatively loyal organic standard.

There was another candidate who did not have a vineyard and made wine from grapes harvested from neighboring vineyards. This person also got angry when we told him that it is necessary for a winemaker who is a member of the Association to be responsible for the raw materials himself. The simple truth is that wine starts in the vineyard, which means your own vineyard, not another vineyard where you don’t even set foot during the year and only remember in the fall when you have grapes to buy for wine. Association members also have the right to purchase grapes from other Association members or from owners of certified organic vineyards, but the member (and the candidate, of course) must have his own productive vineyard of at least 1,000 sq m.

In such cases, when candidates try to explain their approaches that are incompatible with the Association's standards, the Association has a simple answer—everyone can establish a completely different type of viticulture-winemaking association, as they imagine. The Association will always uphold its rules, authority, and take care of the trust it has earned