Baia's Wine

At A Glance

Region: Imereti, western Georgia
Village: Obcha, Bagdati Municipality
Main grapes: Tsolikouri, Tsitska, Krakhuna, Aladasturi, Otskhanuri Sapere
Signature wine: Tsitska Tsolikouri Krakhuna (skin-contact white blend)
Defining feature: Indigenous Imereti varieties, qvevri fermentation, organic farming

The Producer

Baia's Wine is a family winery in Obcha, a small village in the Bagdati Municipality of Imereti, Georgia's central-western wine region. Baia Abuladze, her sister Gvantsa, and their brother Giorgi grow, ferment, and bottle every wine from their family's vineyards. The estate is among the first organic wine producers in Bagdati Municipality, working exclusively with indigenous Imereti grape varieties: Tsolikouri, Tsitska, Krakhuna, Aladasturi, and Otskhanuri Sapere.

Baia and her siblings grew up in Obcha watching their parents and grandparents make wine, and the family's involvement with winemaking spans three generations. After completing agronomical studies in Tbilisi, Baia returned home to build a commercial winery around that inheritance. Gvantsa joined later, bringing experience from a European Voluntary Service placement in Sweden, and now manages wine production alongside developing the winery's tourism presence. Giorgi rounds out the team, and the three run every stage of production themselves, from selecting grape clusters in the family's Obcha vineyards to ageing the wine in the family cellar.

Place

Imereti stretches across central-western Georgia, east of the Greater Caucasus foothills. The region has its own winemaking tradition distinct from Kakheti to the east: Imeretian winemakers typically use less skin contact than Kakhetian amber wine producers, though Baia's Wine extends that contact considerably beyond the regional norm.

Obcha village sits within Bagdati Municipality, a rural sub-district where the winery became one of the first to pursue organic certification. Georgia itself is considered the birthplace of wine, with winemaking artifacts dating back more than 8,000 years, and the qvevri, the buried clay vessel used for fermentation and ageing at Baia's Wine, is one of the oldest fermentation technologies associated with that history.

Story

The Abuladze family had made wine in Obcha across three generations before Baia decided to turn that tradition into a commercial enterprise. She returned to her home village after completing her agronomical studies in Tbilisi, with a clear intention: to build a winery that worked with nature rather than against it, using only the indigenous Imereti varieties her family had always grown.

In 2015, Baia entered a local agricultural startup competition at age 23 and won a grant of GEL 5,000. The prize gave the family enough to purchase the equipment needed to bottle their first vintage that same year. Gvantsa joined the operation after a year in Sweden with the European Voluntary Service programme, bringing new perspective to both wine production and the winery's reach beyond Obcha. Together the three siblings expanded the winery's export presence and tourism activity, with Gvantsa registering the estate on TripAdvisor, Booking.com, and Airbnb.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vineyards are in Obcha, and the family selects each grape cluster by hand from their own plots. All fermentation and ageing happens in the family cellar, where the trio work without outside labour. The winery is certified organic, eliminating synthetic treatments in what was pioneer territory for Bagdati Municipality.

The fermentation vessels are qvevri, the traditional Georgian buried clay amphorae that maintain a steady cool temperature through the fermentation period. Maceration times vary by wine: the signature Tsolikouri-Tsitska-Krakhuna blend spends 15 days on the skins; the single-varietal Tsitska goes through a full month of skin-contact fermentation followed by six months in qvevri without skin contact. For some wines, maceration extends to three months, with each qvevri treated individually. The family tastes from each vessel to decide when the wine is ready to move on. Sulfite additions stay low: the signature blend is bottled at 32 mg/L.

Wines

The range is built entirely from indigenous Imereti varieties, bottled as either blends or single-varietal expressions. The signature white, available at Systembolaget as Baia's Wine Tsitska Tsolikauri Krakhuna, blends 60% Tsolikouri with 20% Tsitska and 20% Krakhuna, all given 15 days of skin contact in qvevri. It is the clearest statement of the house approach: a short maceration, enough skin contact for colour and tannin, less than the extended extraction of the more concentrated single-varietal wines.

Tsolikouri is also bottled as a single variety, available as Baia's Wine Tsolikouri Qvevri Wine, vinified in qvevri with the house's characteristic low-sulfite approach. Krakhuna appears as its own bottling, offering the variety's character without the blending softness of the signature wine. Aladasturi and Otskhanuri Sapere extend the range into red and pink territory, with Otskhanuri Sapere also appearing in a rosé pet-nat under the Gvantsa's Wine label alongside a Tsitska pet-nat. The Gvantsa's Wine label is a distinct product line run by the same family.

In The Glass

The skin contact gives all of Baia's white wines a copper-amber colour and a grip that distinguishes them from conventionally fermented whites. The Tsolikouri-Tsitska-Krakhuna blend brings dried apricot, quince, and orange peel on the nose, with a tannic texture on the palate and a finish that runs dry and slightly bitter in the way of traditional amber wines. The 15-day maceration keeps the tannins firm without becoming astringent, and the low sulfite level leaves the fruit clear and unfumigated.

The single-varietal Tsitska, with its month of skin contact followed by six months of qvevri ageing without skins, develops more oxidative complexity: dried herbs, wax, and a savoury, nutty depth alongside the stone-fruit character the grape carries naturally. The longer contact builds more tannin and a firmer, more structured finish. Across the range, the wines finish dry, with the kind of phenolic grip that suits food and rewards time in the glass.

A Bottle To Understand It

The Tsitska Tsolikouri Krakhuna blend is the right first bottle. It is the signature wine of the estate: three indigenous Imereti varieties fermented together for 15 days on the skins in qvevri, bottled at 32 mg/L of sulfites. The short maceration delivers enough tannin and amber colour to mark it clearly as a qvevri wine while keeping the fruit vivid enough to show what Tsolikouri and its companions taste like before extended extraction takes over. Tsitska brings acidity and floral lift; Krakhuna adds weight and texture; Tsolikouri, the majority grape, carries the stone fruit and length. The wine shows why Georgia's buried-clay tradition produces something fundamentally different from skin-contact wines made elsewhere.

Anecdote

In 2015, Baia Abuladze was 23 years old and back in Obcha after finishing her agronomical studies in Tbilisi. The family had always made wine, but selling it commercially required equipment they did not have. Baia entered a local agricultural startup competition and won. The prize was GEL 5,000, enough to buy a bottling machine and produce a first commercial vintage. That vintage was 2015 itself.

Final Word

Baia's Wine is a family operation in Obcha producing qvevri-fermented wines from indigenous Imereti varieties, with certified organic farming and maceration times that give the wines more grip and depth than most conventionally made Georgian whites.

At A Glance

The Producer

Place

Story

Vineyards And Cellar

Wines

In The Glass

A Bottle To Understand It

Anecdote

Final Word

Sources

Where to go next