IGAVI WINES

AIDAN RAFTERY

Imereti, Georgia

The wines themselves are spell-binding. Raftery, who moved to Georgia from New Zealand in 2019, spent six years remodeling this ancient stone structure into a home for his vibrant, palpably living wines. He helms two labels: Igavi Wines, a grower-focused project with single-vineyards in Imereti and Lechkhumi, and Katsia da Guneba, a field blend from old vines near his winery. 

Igavi is the Georgian term for folk tale, a fitting name for a winery with a story to tell. Raftery’s winemaking journey began in 2013 in Melbourne, Australia, when he started with a proper garage winery at home, crafting a house label for his renowned bistro and natural wine bar, Persillade. In 2017, he closed the business and began importing wine, soon finding himself on a trip to wine’s supposed birthplace: Georgia. There, he later met the woman who’d go on to become his wife — Ellie Bukhaidze, whom he describes as “the most wonderful human on the whole planet.” Gushing about her, he adds, “She helps me with everything in the winery, and I’d be lost without her.”

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BACKGROUND OF NATURAL WINE IN GEORGIA

Georgia, a cradle of winemaking, has become a huge wine destination for natural wine drinkers. Located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, it boasts a rich tradition of crafting natural wines using the ancient Qvevri method, where wines ferment in large clay vessels buried underground. Key grape varieties such as Saperavi and Rkatsiteli thrive in prominent wine regions like Kakheti, contributing to the country's reputation as a hub for distinctive and terroir-driven natural wines. Embrace the heritage and flavors of Georgian natural wines, a testament to the country's enduring commitment to its vinicultural roots.

Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wine. What’s the difference?

To understand this concept and its various ramifications, it is necessary to keep something clear in mind: before the 20th century and the spreading of affordable synthetic fertilisers, all farming was organic. When the shift to the use of synthetics and pesticides happened, it became necessary to diversify traditional organic farming from the new modern farming. 


ORGANIC WINE

Simply put, organic farming forbids the use of synthetic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified organisms. The basic requirements are generally specific and engage the farmers not to use any chemical fertilisers and other synthetic products in the vineyard. It does not prevent the vintner from using the conventional winemaking process after harvesting. 


BIODYNAMIC WINE

Let’s take organic farming one step further: Biodynamic. The creator of this agricultural system is the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who developed the principles of biodynamics in a series of lectures given in 1924 in Germany. Here lies the foundation of true organic wines, with a strict limit in the use of additives, stringent requirements and at the end obtaining a biodynamic certification.


NATURAL WINE

The previous definitions are usually, and rightfully, associated with it, because most natural wine is also organic and/or biodynamic. But not vice versa!

Natural wine is wine in its purest form, simply described as nothing added, nothing taken away, just grapes fermented. No manipulation whatsoever, minimal intervention both in the vineyards and in the winery. Healthy grapes, natural yeast and natural fermentation, with no filtration nor fining. Sounds easy, right? However, making natural wine is unforgiving and it requires a bigger amount of work than conventional wine. To this day, natural wine has no certification yet.