Ateni Valley Wine Cellars

The Ateni valley is not Kakheti, and that is the point. The Tana river cuts a narrow, rocky gorge south of Gori; terraced vineyards climb the slopes and villages sit on the floor — Didi Ateni, Patara Ateni, Boshuri. There are no large wineries here. There are families with a cellar under the house.

Atenuri is a white wine, made mainly from Chinuri and Goruli Mtsvane. It is not the heavy amber wine of Kakheti: Atenuri is light, sharp with acid, and often faintly sparkling, the gas left by a second fermentation when the wine is bottled early. Georgian tradition treats Ateni as the home of naturally sparkling wine, and in the Soviet period Atenuri was recognised as an appellation in its own right.

The gorge explains the wine. It is narrow enough to cool sharply at night and warm through the day, and the soils are stony and limy. Harvest falls at the end of September and the beginning of October; during rtveli the villages come alive and cellar doors stand open.

Be realistic about what this is. It is not an organised wine route. Tasting rooms, card payment and English-speaking guides are rare. A visit needs to be arranged in advance, usually through a guesthouse or a local contact. In return, what you see is unstaged: qvevri sunk in the earth floor, churchkhela hanging from the beams, and a host who will pour three wines at once and want an opinion on each.